Understanding Your Agency Model, With Carson Pierce

Points of Interest

• 00:55 – 01:14 – Meet Today’s Guest: Carson Pierce: Carson, a fan favorite at Parakeeto, joins the show to chat about a big shift in the agency world—why more agencies are ditching big teams in favor of lean, contractor-driven models.
• 01:34 – 02:29 – Agencies Are Shrinking Their Core Teams: Carson talks about a growing trend—agencies are keeping their leadership and strategy teams small while outsourcing most of the production work to contractors, freelancers, and offshore talent.
• 03:08 – 05:05 – Why Agencies Are Outsourcing More Work: Marcel breaks down the big reasons behind this shift, including rising salaries, AI shaking things up, a tough economy, and the fact that clients no longer care if their agency is local.
• 06:04 – 07:26 – Why Old-School Utilization Metrics Don’t Work Anymore: Carson explains how traditional utilization numbers can be misleading for agencies using more contractors, and why focusing on average billable rate (ABR) is a better approach.
• 08:03 – 10:44 – The Next Big Agency Trend: Internal Specialization: Marcel introduces the idea that agencies should focus on what they do best and outsource everything else—just like other industries have done to stay profitable.
• 12:02 – 14:04 – What Should You Keep In-House vs. Outsource?: Marcel shares a simple way to decide—play to your team’s strengths, keep control of the most critical parts of your client experience, and let experts handle everything else.
• 18:02 – 21:08 – Pricing Without Overcomplicating It: Marcel simplifies pricing strategy, explaining why agencies should stop obsessing over markup and hourly rates and instead focus on three things: revenue, pass-through costs, and delivery costs.
• 25:08 – 28:26 – Offshoring: The Good, The Bad, and The Smart Way to Do It: More agencies are hiring offshore talent to save money, but success depends on having solid processes and clear communication—Marcel and Carson share tips on how to do it right.
• 30:51 – 32:44 – The Future of Agencies: Smaller, Leaner, and More Specialized: Marcel predicts that agencies will continue breaking down into specialized teams, just like airlines and grocery chains have done, to survive in a market with shrinking margins.
• 34:22 – 35:04 – Final Takeaways: Marcel and Carson wrap up with a big reminder—profitability isn’t just about working harder; it’s about working smarter. Agencies that embrace internal specialization and strategic outsourcing will win in the long run.

Show Notes

• Connect with Carson via LinkedIn
• Get access to this model tool in the toolkit
• Link to Pie Chart Visualization
• Parakeeto Foundations Course
• Books
  • Digital Dollars and Cents by Jody Grunden
  • Financial Management of a Marketing Firm by David C. Baker
  • Software as a Science by Marcel, Dan Martell, Johnny Page & Matt Verlaque

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