Scaling an Agency: Challenges and Lessons Learned

Have you ever wondered what it takes to scale an agency from millions to tens of millions in revenue? Or how to successfully pivot from services to products? Today's guest has walked that path - not once but twice.

He’s built two successful agencies with the mission to lift brands up, tell compelling stories and recognize new products. As he reflects on his journey, he recounts the differences between scaling an agency to $25 million and to $50 million, as well as the pivotal decision of starting to sell a SaaS product. Tune in for valuable insights and inspiring stories from his entrepreneurial experience.

Phil Case is the President and Chief Client Officer of Max Connect Digital, a digital marketing agency that combines the most extensive real-time consumer data sets with personalized and dynamic ads. Phil shares his journey of growing his first agency from $300,000 to around $5 million and then scaling his current agency from $18 million to over $50 million. He discusses profit margins, business growth strategies, and the competitive mindset needed to succeed in the industry.

In this episode, we’ll discuss:

• A smarter approach to sustainable growth.

• Attracting talent through an SVP structure.

• The path to becoming a $50 million agency.

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Sponsors and Resources

E2M Solutions: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by E2M Solutions, a web design, and development agency that has provided white-label services for the past 10 years to agencies all over the world. Check out e2msolutions.com/smartagency and get 10% off for the first three months of service.

Foundational Clients: The Smart Approach to Fueling Sustainable Growth

Looking back, Phil knows he would scale his first agency differently. Back then, he worked grueling 60 to 80-hour workweeks, constantly putting out fires while striving to appease everyone. He also fell into the trap of trying to cater to every need, becoming a jack-of-all-trades for his clients.

If he could go back he would tell himself to focus and maintain high standards. He now understands that striving to excel in a specific area and establish a strong reputation for himself and his agency and have a minimum threshold of what they will do for clients. The growth process would’ve been slower, but it would have prevented them from taking on clients who placed excessive demands on the agency.

Admittedly, committing to a single niche at the outset can be challenging, especially when faced with numerous options and critical decisions. Furthermore, you can’t control your inbound and the type of opportunities that come to you when you’re just starting out. If given a do-over, Phil would be deliberate in building a stable foundation with a select group of clients, who would serve as the cornerstone for the agency's continued growth.

Aligning Talent and Vision for Exponential Growth

When it came to enhancing the agency’s growth and focus, Phil found it crucial to expand his team with individuals he trusted to excel beyond his own capabilities. Understanding the agency’s ideal client and vision is essential for attracting a team aligned with the common goal. This alignment empowers the team to make autonomous decisions for the agency, freeing Phil from constant oversight.

Empowering a team, trusting them to make decisions, delegating responsibilities, and allowing them to grow within the organization are key components of scaling an agency effectively. Once he had a big enough team, Phil appreciated the ability to spread the responsibility and burden of running the agency across a group of people. With a diversity of voices now up to speed on the agency’s goals and vision, they make way better decisions than Phil would haveon his own. This is where exponential growth started for his agency.

Attracting Top Talent Through an SVP Structure

Even as Phil successfully built a top-notch sales team at his second agency, he found himself frequently stepping in to close deals or develop strategies alongside the C-suite. To address this, he implemented a senior vice president structure, tapping professionals from diverse backgrounds such as higher education, automotive, and retail. This strategic shift allowed him to confidently direct inquiries to the experts, fostering a sense of empowerment within his team to handle client interactions and secure deals without his direct involvement.

Moreover, by entrusting specific industry expertise to the senior vice presidents, the agency positioned itself as a frontrunner in those sectors, attracting clients seeking specialized knowledge. Phil's deliberate approach to hiring and training three vice presidents concurrently during the onset of the pandemic proved fruitful, as it provided an opportunity to onboard exceptional talent seeking to make an impact. This bold move resulted in several outstanding hires who excelled in leadership roles.

Since making these hires, they’ve been much more intentional with their growth and have doubled down on existing client relationships. They are focused on providing more quality, value, and performance, which has accounted for 60% to 70% of their growth in recent years.

The Path to Becoming a $50 Million Agency

Coming into his second agency, Phil had a clear-cut mission in mind: World domination. They wanted to be the best and perform well for clients and so their sight was always set on the next milestone. If they were doing $2 million in revenue, they were already thinking “How do we get to three?”

With an unwavering commitment to progress, Phil's approach to reaching $50 million differed significantly from his strategy to achieve $25 million. Initially lacking a clear understanding of their ideal customers, they have since become more deliberate in their pursuit of growth.

Once they reached $25 million, they started to interrogate whether they really wanted to exponentially grow their client base. They took a step back to analyze and define what a bullseye client looks like for them and what were the industries where they consistently outperformed the competition. This mindset shift led to the realization that the most underappreciated growth mechanism was their existing book of business.

With this in mind, they focused on signing on fewer clients per month and doing quarterly business reviews for each of their accounts. By prioritizing quality over quantity, being intentional in their growth strategy, and investing in their team and resources, agencies can position themselves for long-term success and sustainability in a competitive industry. Once that focus came to be, Phil’s agency propelled from $25 million to $30 million.

Now, at $50 million, they deal with different challenges like inner departmental collaboration, orchestrated strategies, and scaling systems and structures.

Expanding Their Market Reach by Selling a Saas Product

As his agency scaled, their margins remained relatively consistent. As they’ve hit different revenue peaks, the composition of the types of services they’re offering is what tended to affect their profitability. Recognizing that certain client compositions or services were less profitable, the agency focused on enhancing its value proposition, optimizing pricing strategies, and improving operational efficiency to boost its bottom line.

At this stage, the emphasis for Phil is on exploring ways to deliver greater value, adopt effective pricing strategies, and establish efficient frameworks to enhance service delivery. In this sense, they’ve now set out to build marketing technology platforms they’re starting to sell as a SaaS-type product.

By leveraging their expertise in marketing technology and developing innovative solutions, agencies can expand their market reach and tap into new revenue streams. This approach allows agencies to scale their business, increase profitability, and potentially attract investors or buyers interested in acquiring the SaaS product.

Agency owners can rethink their approach to their agency business to running a services-based firm and a SaaS company simultaneously. Phil acknowledges the different mindset required for each type of business and emphasizes the importance of incubating the SaaS business and eventually separating it from the services-based firm to ensure success in the long run.

Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset?

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