The Silent Bottleneck in Agency Growth

There’s a stage in agency growth that looks successful on the outside but feels limiting on the inside. 

You’re delivering great work, clients are happy, and your reputation is solid… yet you’re still underpriced, overextended, and not seen as the strategic partner you know you are.

This silent slowdown has a name: the value gap and most agencies stay in it far longer than they realize.

In this episode of the Small But Mighty Agency Podcast, we unpack why this happens and how it ties directly to the three levels of competitive power that agencies move through as they grow. Most agencies unknowingly get stuck in the middle level, where their work is good enough to grow, but their positioning quietly caps their value.

In this episode, we explore:

• Why “good work” is no longer enough to stand out
• The 3 levels of agency competitive power and where most firms plateau
• The shift from selling deliverables to selling outcomes
• Why premium pricing follows transformation, not effort
• How specialization becomes strategic leverage

When you get clear on the big outcome you deliver, everything starts to line up. You can see what conditions need to be in place, who’s actually a right-fit client, and where your best results come from.

At that point, growth isn’t about doing more work. It’s about solving a bigger, more meaningful problem that earns higher value.

Listen in to explore where your agency sits today and what it takes to move beyond the ceiling.

Show Notes:

The Hands off CEO book: handsoffceo.com/book 

Mandi's LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/mandiellefson

Hey thanks for hanging out with me at the Small But Mighty Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode it would mean the world to me if you hit the follow or subscribe button in your podcast app and share it with a friend. And I’ll see you on the next one. 

Get the full show notes and more information here: https://audreyjoykwan.com/podcast/ep141

Podcast Edits by Lindsay Curtis