Build a Better Agency Podcast

Latest Episodes:

EP 285: The importance of masterminds with Drew McLellan Mar 22, 2021

Show notes

It's lonely at the top. While that's a cliché, as agency owners we all know it to be very true. On those days when you'd sell your agency for a nickel, who do you have to confide in? On the flip side – when you land the biggest account in your agency's history, who can you call who will be as excited as you are? Surrounding yourself with people who care about your success as much as you do is critical. No one gets owning an agency more than another agency owner. And no one gets owning a business more than another business owner. How do you surround yourself with people who genuinely understand your world and are in your corner?

Mastermind groups of various forms have been around for a long time. In fact, Agency Management Institute was founded with agency owner peer groups which are, in essence, a mastermind group. There are plenty of organizations that offer formal mastermind groups but you can also form your own. Either way, it's essential that you have peers who will be your sounding board, tell you the truth when you don't want to hear it, and will bend over backwards to help you succeed.

In this episode of Build A Better Agency, I want to talk to you about the value of these groups, as well as outlining several ways to ensure its success, including things to look for in a mastermind, understanding the difference between formal and informal groups, meeting structures to implement, the importance of accountability, and creating a safe space for facing crisis.

A big thank you to our podcast's presenting sponsor, White Label IQ. They're an amazing resource for agencies who want to outsource their design, dev, or PPC work at wholesale prices. Check out their special offer (10 free hours!) for podcast listeners here.

What You Will Learn in This Episode:

The value of a mastermind group
Four things to look for in a mastermind
Formal vs Informal mastermind groups
Models for successful masterminds
Ideal size of an informal mastermind group
The importance of accountability
Deal with crisis in a mastermind
How often a mastermind should get together

"What a mastermind does for you as a business owner is it gives you other people who have some shared experiences, some different perspective on those experiences, and also have your best interest." @DrewMcLellan CLICK TO TWEET "The first thing that matters when you're thinking about a mastermind is to be in a mastermind with people who genuinely care about you as a human being and who care about you in terms of your business success. They are committed to you being…CLICK TO TWEET "I have often said, the best thing about being a business owner is, you're accountable to no one. The worst part of being a business owner is, you're accountable to no one." @DrewMcLellan CLICK TO TWEET "There's great comfort in knowing that you can command everyone's attention and they are willing to give you that time and attention." @DrewMcLellan CLICK TO TWEET "There are times when you don't honor the exact agenda of the mastermind but, honestly, having an agenda is probably one of the most critical elements of whether or not this is going to work." @DrewMcLellan CLICK TO TWEET "The questions they ask me help me see with a clarity that I couldn't see if I was doing it all by myself." @DrewMcLellan CLICK TO TWEET

Ways to contact Drew McLellan:

Email: drew@agencymanagementinstitute.com
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/drewmclellan
Website: https://agencymanagementinstitute.com/

Tools & Resources:

Sell with Authority (buy Drew's book)
Facebook Group for the Build a Better Agency Podcast
My Future Self Mini-Course

EP 284: Passive real estate investment options with Chris Prefontaine Mar 15, 2021

Show notes

At AMI we preach the idea of building your wealth outside your agency, while you still own your agency. Sadly, many owners leave too much in retained earnings inside the agency and over time, they piddle that money away. Every agency owner deserves to profit from the risk they took to start the business and the sweat equity they've put into it for years. Agency owners often ask me about how other agency owners are building a nest egg outside of the shop. Most will consider real estate but rarely do they think about passive real estate investments. I want to make sure we change that! Chris Prefontaine is a returning guest (episode 203) who talked in general terms about real estate investing last time. I asked him back to specifically talk about passive real estate investments. Speaking from personal experience, one of the beautiful things about this option is that you can generate a pretty remarkable return without you as the investor doing any of the leg work!

In this episode of Build a Better Agency, Chris and I discuss the good, the bad, and the ugly of real estate investments, especially passive partnership options. We talk about ways to vet these estate opportunities, what kind of investor would be ideal for this kind of deal, and the questions to ask when considering an investment.

What You Will Learn in This Episode:

The three paydays of an active real estate investment and which two of those apply to passive real estate investments
What the payouts look like for passive real estate investors
How to vet passive real estate opportunities
Who makes a good investor in passive real estate
What questions to ask when faced with a passive real estate investment opportunity
Does it make sense to invest in multiple properties or a single property?
Specific financial requirements for being a passive real estate investor
How does this work from a tax perspective?
The trends that are happening in real estate investments

EP 283: How AI insights can benefit agencies with RJ Talyor Mar 08, 2021

Show notes

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a hot topic but many agency owners wonder how, exactly, it can benefit their shop. They get how it works but they think that either a) they don't understand it enough to deliver on it for clients or b) they can't afford the AI tools out there for agencies. The truth is – now is the time to experiment. Most agencies are at the infancy stages of learning about AI and how to use it to serve clients better. But we have to get up to speed or we will find ourselves left behind. The good news? It's within your grasp. It's with these challenges in mind that I was inspired to reach out to RJ Talyor and have him on the show. RJ's SaaS company, Pattern89, works with agencies and brands and improves their ad effectiveness and efficiency by measuring over 49,000 characteristics of a digital ad. With that data, they can provide insights on what's working and what isn't, as well as the predicted shelf life of any ad. Through their analytics, they're also able to predict with over 95% accuracy whether or not a piece of creative is going to work.

In this episode of Build a Better Agency, RJ and I discuss the many ways AI insights are quickly becoming a necessity for agencies of all sizes. We look at the specific data it can provide, as well as how an agency can begin to experiment while convincing even the most dubious of clients of its importance. We also talk about the way the creative life cycle is changing, how agencies approach AI wrong, and what is coming next in the world of artificial intelligence.

What You Will Learn in This Episode:

The specific data AI for marketing can give to an agency
Why AI doesn't undermine creative
How small to mid-size agencies are leveraging AI marketing insights
Why AI is quickly becoming a need-to-have for agencies of all sizes
How the creative life cycle is changing
How iOS 14 is changing the way marketing will work
Why the speed of change is disruption A/B testing
Ways agencies can begin to dip their toes in AI
Where agencies get AI wrong
What is coming next in the world of AI

EP 282: How to tackle DIY research in your agency with Matt Seltzer Mar 01, 2021

Show notes

Back in the good old days (pre great recession) agencies used research to make their work smarter and more effective. But it became a luxury we trimmed out as we had to squeeze budgets. As we emerged from the recession, we dismissed research as expensive and didn't build it into our recommendations as often as we should. But what if we could benefit from the insights research provides without busting the budget? This week's guest Matt Seltzer has worked in several agencies in a research capacity. A couple years ago he started a market research firm specifically to partner with ad agencies to create more revenue streams and gather insight for themselves and their clients.

In this episode of Build a Better Agency, Matt and I talk about the many ways agencies of any size can utilize DIY research to build better pitches and client work. We discuss options for reducing bias, increasing response, and minimizing survey fatigue. We also explore ways to approach clients about investing in research, different ways to utilize the insights, and specific areas where agencies get research wrong.

What You Will Learn in This Episode:

Effective DIY research options
The benefits of simple surveys
Why customer personas are helpful
The way to increase survey response
Ways to reduce bias in DIY research
Why clients appreciate research
How to avoid survey fatigue
How to approach a client about adding research
Different ways to use the research insights
Misperceptions that keep us from DIY research
Ways agencies get research wrong

EP 281: How to maximize strategic thinking in your agency with Adam Pierno Feb 22, 2021

Show notes

One of the biggest bottlenecks in many agencies is that the agency owner is the only person who can develop strategies for clients or new business pitches. As you know, this causes a host of problems, not the least of which is then the agency owner can't focus on doing his/her job. Most owners feel stuck – believing that strategic thinking is not something you can teach. But what if you could? Adam Pierno has a long resume working with well-known agencies and brands. When his experience on the creative side led to a realization that there was no methodology that could help agencies bake strategic thinking into their business model, he put his research and experience into authoring two books on the subject and now helps agencies looking to enhance their strategic approach.

In this episode of Build a Better Agency, Adam and I talk about the necessity to expand an agency's strategic thinking beyond one or two people. We look at specific ways to do this that can empower your entire team to think strategically. We also discuss the errors many agencies make in communicating strategy to clients and prospects and how to leverage strategic thinking as we begin to move beyond the pandemic.

What You Will Learn in This Episode:

How to infuse strategic thinking throughout an agency.
Different ways agencies can approach strategy.
How to soothe the conflict points that can develop when strategy expands to the who team.
Specific ways agencies screw up strategy during a pitch.
The need to create a story connection between the strategy and the creative.
The place for strategy in pitching.
The importance of having a captivating storyteller share the strategy.
How to help a team become better strategic thinkers.
The need to document the steps of your agency's strategic thinking.
The secret to making clients want to stay with your agency as we begin to move into the next normal after the pandemic.

EP 280: Making the most of embedded employees with Drew McLellan Feb 15, 2021

Show notes

Over the last couple of years, many agencies have started reaping the benefits of embedding an account executive in a client's office. By that I mean someone from the agency team literally has a desk or office in a client's business for a set amount of time every week. This trend was growing prior to the pandemic and actually held its own during the work from home period of 2020. Now that more agencies and clients have returned to the office, this becomes a very viable option again. In this episode, I want to talk about what this means, how to do it well, and both the risks and value of doing it. As an agency owner, your brain might jump to several potential problems that make you leery of such an arrangement. Truth be told, there are several benefits for your shop and your client. If done well, this can be a huge win for you.

It takes a bit of a learning curve, as well as putting the ideal employee with the right client. But, when done correctly, you create a really great hook that makes it nearly impossible for a client to consider taking their business anywhere else. In the process, as the agency owner, you cultivate a better, stronger, more connected relationship with the client organization.

What You Will Learn in This Episode:

Why clients love embedded employees
How embedded employees guarantee that business's growth
The dark side of embedding employees
How to protect yourself from having the employee poached
Ways to help your embedded employee stay loyal to the agency
The ideal employee to embed in a client's office
The benefits to the agency of having an embedded employee

"Without exception, embedded employees are able to grow that book of business." @DrewMcLellan CLICK TO TWEET "You want an embedded employee to remember where they work and where their loyalties lie." @DrewMcLellan CLICK TO TWEET "An embedded employee should be someone who bleeds the agency's colors." @DrewMcLellan CLICK TO TWEET "This is an opportunity for you as the agency owner to cultivate a better, stronger, more connected relationship with the business owner or CEO of the client organization." @DrewMcLellan CLICK TO TWEET "You are setting a really great hook with an embedded employee and it can be a fantastic thing for both the client and the agency." @DrewMcLellan CLICK TO TWEET

Ways to contact Drew McLellan:

Email: drew@agencymanagementinstitute.com
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/drewmclellan
Website: https://agencymanagementinstitute.com/

Tools & Resources:

My Future Self Mini-Course
Sell with Authority (buy Drew's book)
Facebook Group for the Build a Better Agency Podcast

About the Author: Drew McLellan

For 30+ years, Drew McLellan has been in the advertising industry. He started his career at Y&R, worked in boutique-sized agencies, and then started his own (which he still owns and runs) agency in 1995. Additionally, Drew owns and leads the Agency Management Institute, which advises hundreds of small to mid-sized agencies on how to grow their agency and its profitability through agency owner peer groups, consulting, coaching, workshops, and more.

Leading agency owner peer groups
Offering workshops for agency owners and their leadership teams
Offering AE Bootcamps
Conducting individual agency owner coaching
Doing on-site consulting
Offering online courses in agency new business and account service

Because he works with over 250+ agencies every year, Drew has the unique opportunity to see the patterns and the habits (both good and bad) that happen over and over again. He has also written several books, including Sell With Authority (2020) and been featured in The New York Times, Forbes, Entrepreneur Magazine, and Fortune Small Business. The Wall Street Journal called his blog "One of 10 blogs every entrepreneur should read."

EP 279: Does your agency need a project manager with Ben Aston Feb 08, 2021

Show notes

Who is responsible for keeping the agency's work on time and on budget? That is an oft debated topic among agency owners. At AMI we believe that a specific role (Project Manager, Traffic Manager, etc.) to keep everyone and everything on track is a luxury if you have fewer than 10 employees and by the time you're at 15-20 employees, it's usually a necessity if you want to keep your team and clients happy. But who you hire and how they go about implementing a traffic system is a challenge many agency owners struggle with. Ben Aston is a self-taught digital project manager with over 15 years experience in the agency world. Realizing how difficult his own learning path was and how few resources exist for those interested in developing these skills, he turned his focus to training others on how to develop the craft of project management.

In this episode of Build a Better Agency, Ben and I talk about what a project manager does and how this role will help grow your bottom line. We get into the nitty gritty of what makes for successful project management, including defining the skills for an ideal project manager, injecting flexibility into planning, reframing time tracking, and solving the problem of the dreaded "scope creep."

What You Will Learn in This Episode:

At what size agency would a project manager make sense
What skills creates an ideal project manager
Why project management is such a challenge for a majority of agencies
How to recognize project management issues
The necessity for creative and craft briefs
Solving the problem of "scope creep"
How to inject flexibility into project planning
Defining negative scope
How to create effective templates
The need to reframe time tracking
Best practices for successful project management

EP 278: How to create an amazing client experience with Stacey Singer Feb 01, 2021

Show notes

The reality is, we spend so much time thinking and worrying about business development, and in most cases that exuberance is not really matched with the same level of excitement for our existing clients. Which is crazy because we all know that clients get much more profitable the longer we keep them. Despite knowing that – we keep making the same mistakes and jeopardizing our most important client relationships. What if we could avoid those mistakes? Stacey Singer has a great love of how agencies combine business, creativity, and psychology. She has worked in agencies large and small and now she devotes her expertise to helping agencies build amazing client relationships that really hold up, even when things get rocky.

In this episode of Build a Better Agency, Stacey and I discuss why paying attention to existing client relationships is even more important than pursuing new clients. She walks through the need to try to imagine your relationship from the client perspective, as well as specific but seemingly small things she has learned that can sometimes damage that relationship.

We also dive into the need for a client satisfaction analysis, as well as why putting the client first doesn't automatically mean blindly agreeing with whatever they ask for. Sometimes telling the client "no" leads to a stronger relationship.

What You Will Learn in This Episode:

Specific ways agencies mess up the client experience
The need to see the client experience from the client's perspective
Simple ways agencies undermine trust with clients
How to get a response from challenging clients
The importance of explaining the implications for actions
The error in interpreting client questions as an indication of a lack of trust
The need for clear service standards
How an exchange program with a client can be incredibly insightful for both sides of the relationship
The danger in letting your agency needs seep through to the clients
Why being invested in the client beyond just what your agency can offer can lead to more business actually
How to tell the client 'no' but have it sound like a 'yes'

EP 277: How to be a better leader with Jeff Nischwitz Jan 25, 2021

Show notes

Leadership can feel like a loaded word. We often think about leadership as defining how you run your business but, to me, that refers to how you manage, not how you lead. Leadership is how you show up, and great leadership isn't just about getting people to do what you want, it's about inspiring them to WANT to do what you are asking because they are invested, emotionally and otherwise, in your goals and the goals of the agency. In this podcast, we're going to explore how we can get to be that kind of leader. As a self-proclaimed "snow globe shaker", Jeff Nischwitz is on a mission to shake up how we lead and the impact of that leadership. A global speaker and coach, Jeff is all about pushing aside our fears and leading from the heart so we can all be better leaders.

In this episode of Build a Better Agency, Jeff and I talk about the challenges and revelations of agency leadership over the last year during the pandemic. Beyond that we dive into the untapped power of vulnerability, the need for grace, and the biggest fears in modern leadership. We look at the specific skills and tools that leaders will need as we move into the next normal.

What You Will Learn in This Episode:

The need for vulnerability in better leadership
How fear is driving leadership challenges
Why what you tolerate defines your agency
The importance of creating a "no waiting zone" in your agency
Defining the difference between a good manager and a good leader
How the concept of grace is missing from business leadership
Why leaders need to invest in the physical and emotional safety of their team
Understanding why bad leadership is actually a selfish act
The need to reframe your definition of "nice"

EP 276: Customer experience beyond the sale with Jeannie Walters Jan 18, 2021

Show notes

Think about how you build out journey maps or of journey maps you've seen if that isn't something your agency does. They chart out how a potential customer goes from not being aware of the product or service to the point of purchase. Typically, we're building this journey map to coincide with our work in helping our clients increase their sales. In that way, it makes sense that the map would end at the sale. That's our job is to get them to that point. But the customer's experience has really just begun. The real journey begins once you're in a relationship with the customer and how you nourish and grow the trust and connection with the client moving forward. The opportunity for our agencies is to help our clients beyond the initial sale. What if our agency also engaged in helping clients build stronger, more resilient relationships with their customers? That's some very profitable work for us and a lasting value for our clients.

As a certified customer experience professional, Jeannie Walters is an expert on this exact topic. An educator and consultant that comes from the agency world, she has a real passion for improving customer experiences and she's here to share some insights that will help you serve your clients even better.

In this episode of Build a Better Agency, Jeannie and I dive into the changes in customer relations that were inspired by the pandemic and how companies were forced to evolve in order to survive. We also talk about how the entire supply chain process has come front and center, as well as the continuing need to be innovative, even though the stakes aren't as high as they were during the pandemic.

What You Will Learn in This Episode:

How to get your clients to think bigger
The need for a customer experience mission in your agency
Ways to improve journey mapping
The difference between the buyer's journey and the customer's journey
Why communication is key to the customer experience
The way the customer experience differs in a B2B environment versus a B2C environment
How to get your whole agency on the same page regarding the expectations of the customer experience
How to use a customer experience success statement to measure what is being done right
The important of including the billing process in the review of your customer journey
How to spot and utilize "micro-moments" to create surprises that delight customers

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Build a Better Agency Podcast

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected