Agency Blueprint

Different stages of growing an agency face different challenges. What sort of challenges are you facing at the stage of growth you’re in right now and how are you handling them? The effort and pressure that you experience at these stages are what allows you to find your way and success.  In this episode of The Agency Blueprint, I’m joined by Phil Case, President and Chief Client Officer at Max Connect Digital where they are focused on providing real value to clients in the form of business results and revenue growth. He has over 15 years of experience creating curated marketing strategies for top global brands.  Listen in to learn about smart leadership, talent development, process documentation, and much more!  Key Questions:   [01:37] What sort of things have you experienced at different stages of agency growth and the distinction between each? [07:00] How do you influence those that you recruit to be their best selves and to develop leadership, passion, and vision?  [13:13] As you were growing the team, how did you prioritize your time and the investment into team members?  What You’ll Discover: [01:42] The exhausting stages of a digital agency and the struggle it can be when you’re everything to your business.  [06:19] How to develop a leadership team to make a difference in the growth and future of your agency.  [09:30] How finding, recruiting, and retaining top talent can make a difference in propelling your agency’s success. [13:39] The importance of documenting processes for easier delegation so you can focus on other growth activities.  [20:02] How to be the leader who coaches and supports their team and leans into the unknown.  Connect with Phil: WebsiteLinkedInFree Copy of The Practical Agency Book.Real Life Agency Success StoriesWeekly agency tactics YouTube ChannelProfitability Accelerator Call - If you're looking to make a change today schedule your profitability accelerator call to define what is possible for your agency in the next 90 days.

Did you know you can have more negative long-term impact to your agency by failing to invest appropriately in your team and by failing to ensure you have the right people? The best thing you can do for your team to continue growing your business is ensuring they have all the resources they need to do their job. In this episode of The Agency Blueprint, we discuss how to train a high performing team by providing the necessary tools from recruitment, interviewing, onboarding, and career growth. We explain how to set and manage team expectations and invest in their career growth. Don’t miss this episode for more on interviewing, recruiting, mentoring, and training of teams!  Key Questions:   [05:10] How are you setting expectations with new hires during the interview? [10:30] How do you get your hire going after the interview and hiring process? What You’ll Discover: [02:08] Mistakes agencies make when hiring and how to present your business to get the best hires.  [05:10] How to interview candidates based on what the role will demand and success will look like for you.  [07:25] Understanding the interviewer and interviewee perspectives and what each requires from the other.  [10:30] How to set up your employee for success by planning and training them after the interview and hiring process.  [13:23] The importance of having a mentor as a new hire to guide you and help you assimilate to the company culture.  [15:27] Make sure that people understand your expectations of them to increase the likelihood of success. [16:14] How to set expectations and paint a successful future for your people. Free Copy of The Practical Agency Book.Real Life Agency Success StoriesWeekly agency tactics YouTube ChannelProfitability Accelerator Call - If you're looking to make a change today schedule your profitability accelerator call to define what is possible for your agency in the next 90 days.

Bad emails that come of as too salesy don’t convert. How do you send emails that are engaging, converting, adds value, and aren’t annoying to the receiver? Having the desire to be helpful and add value in your content not only builds trust, but it also converts.  In this episode of The Agency Blueprint, I talk about the art of writing winning email copies that engages your audience and increases the conversion rate. I explain the importance of being personable and using a friendly format in your email copy.  Listen in to how to use you email data to guide your style, impact, and content you’re sending out.  Key Questions:   [01:02] How valuable are you emails and are they helping you build a rapport? [02:38] Is you content one-sided and salesy or is it personable? [07:48] Is your email in a newsletter format or is it friendly and filled with value?  What You’ll Discover: [01:31] How having the desire to add value and be helpful leads to better conversion.  [02:38] How to be personable with an undertone of wanting to help in your email.  [07:44] How to format your email like it’s to a friend to make it interesting to engage with.  [11:51] The different things you can do to add value to your prospects and increase your conversion rate. [14:37] How to utilize your email data to guide your style, impact, and content you’re sending out.Free Copy of The Practical Agency Book.Real Life Agency Success StoriesWeekly agency tactics YouTube ChannelProfitability Accelerator Call - If you're looking to make a change today schedule your profitability accelerator call to define what is possible for your agency in the next 90 days.

How are you handling the delegating process in your agency? What are the things you can operationalize and be set up for success? You don’t have to wear many hats that leave you time depleted, the best way to reduce workload, maximize your time, and increase your productivity is by leveraging an admin to help keep your schedule highly organized.   In this episode of The Agency Blueprint, I’m joined by Amanda Hamilton, founder of Hamilton Raye, which brings professionals remote administrative support to startup organizations and businesses. She’s had a successful career in production and sourcing where she had the opportunity to learn best practices for staying organized, managing constant changes in priorities, and finding process efficiencies to reduce workload.  Listen in to learn how to determine what you need to delegate, train admins, engage and communicate with them, and more.  Key Questions:   [01:48] What kind of things can an admin help an agency owner with? [06:50] Can you share the distinction between a V.A. and an E.A. as types of support for businessowners? [08:41] What kind of suggestions do you have for someone when they’re just starting out with an admin? [14:30] What would you say are the characteristics of a great admin? [17:29] What’s your advice to someone that’s underutilizing their admin and what should they be looking at?   What You’ll Discover: [01:53] Figure out the things you can operationalize and create a standard operating procedure.  [03:22] How to train people to take tasks from you and leverage them to their full potential. [07:01] The difference between a virtual assistant and an executive assistant.  [08:50] The importance of dedicating time to train and understand your executive assistant.  [12:06] How to engage your admin to have them understand your culture and interactions with other people.  [14:41] Why your admin needs to possess communication, flexibility, and resourcefulness traits.  [17:43] How to determine the things you need to remove from your plate and start delegating.  [20:15] How tracking and reviewing your to-do list will help you focus on items to do or delegate.  Connect with Amanda: WebsiteLinkedInFree Copy of The Practical Agency Book.Real Life Agency Success StoriesWeekly agency tactics YouTube ChannelProfitability Accelerator Call - If you're looking to make a change today schedule your profitability accelerator call to define what is possible for your agency in the next 90 days.

How consistent and scalable is the sales process in your agency? Does everyone in your sales team understand what they need to do to succeed? To scale your sales, your process needs to be accessible and well-understood by everyone in your sales process to keep things consistent for prospects. In this episode of The Agency Blueprint, I talk about the different stages of a scalable sales process. I explain why data/trackable metrics should be the core of most of your decisions and not your feelings.  Don’t miss the episode to learn more about developing a sales process and making data-driven decisions!  Key Questions:   [01:00] Is your sales process accessible and well-understood by everyone on your sales team? [09:37] What tech tool do you need to implement that will grow with your agency? [10:57] Do you have KPIs or trackable metrics that allow you to make data-driven decisions?  What You’ll Discover: [01:28] Why agency owners don’t like sales plus the mistakes to avoid before removing yourself from the sales component.  [04:26] Develop a clear and repeatable sales process that allows everyone to understand the sales cycle.  [05:06] How to build trust with clients to make a sale and have a long-lasting, meaningful relationship.  [07:41] Think about activity-based selling – understanding the activities to do to get you to a sale.  [09:37] Find technology that scales with you for the foreseeable future.  [10:57] Have KPIs that allow you to understand what’s happening, predict, and address any issues.  [13:08] What to think about and the steps to take to build out your sales cycle journey.Free Copy of The Practical Agency Book.Real Life Agency Success StoriesWeekly agency tactics YouTube ChannelProfitability Accelerator Call - If you're looking to make a change today schedule your profitability accelerator call to define what is possible for your agency in the next 90 days.

What investments are you making in your agency to continue growing and scaling? It’s important to invest in the right thing in your agency to avoid working hard to stay in the same exact place.  In this episode of The Agency Blueprint, we talk about the time and financial investments you have to make for the growth of your agency. We discuss the value of investing in active marketing and how it invites criticism which leaves room for growth.  Listen in to learn how to enhance your business by making your product better for people to want to stay longer and refer others.  Key Questions:   [01:42] What is at the core of why agencies don’t invest in their marketing? [06:23] Have you set things systematically that they can be done without you? [11:40] Are you an excellent salesperson or just subpar in your craft?  [19:28] How are you investing in personal development, and is it working for you?  What You’ll Discover: [01:26] Why agencies don’t invest in marketing plus the value of investing time and effort in marketing and lead gen.  [04:53] How marketing invites client criticism, which will push you to a growth point.  [06:23] How systems and processes teach others to put out fires on your behalf.  [10:20] How to protect your mental well-being and creativity by delegating most tasks.  [11:40] The difference between an excellent salesperson and a subpar salesperson.  [16:29] The importance of spending time developing your team and ensuring they’re the best they can be. [17:42] The importance of investing in yourself during hard and easy times for growth. Free Copy of The Practical Agency Book.Real Life Agency Success StoriesWeekly agency tactics YouTube ChannelProfitability Accelerator Call - If you're looking to make a change today schedule your profitability accelerator call to define what is possible for your agency in the next 90 days.

How streamlined are resource and capacity planning in your agency? To streamline operations and scale your agency, you must be willing to do the hard things others aren’t doing. Knowing your numbers and your team’s involvement is crucial to understand your time utilization and operational cost. In this episode of The Agency Blueprint, I’m joined by Alyson Caffrey, the founder of Operations Agency and co-creator of the Operations Simplified Framework. She helps streamline the back-end ops for a multitude of brands, but mostly digital and creative agencies. She explains the importance of time tracking, diligently updating your project management tools, and leading by example to scale your agency.   Take advantage of this episode to learn more about time tracking, utilization, and standardizing core services!  Key Questions:   [01:50] What are the biggest mistakes you see agencies make when it comes to resourcing and planning? [08:08] What’s your recommendation for someone without any reporting or tracking for their resourcing or planning and looking to start? [16:05] What are your thoughts on how to start resource planning and technology to leverage?  What You’ll Discover: [02:06] Standardize your core services to capacity plan well and avoid being all over the place.  [04:18] How to avoid perfectionism and hiring a specialty “unicorn” person who does everything. [08:20] How to track your time and your team’s time to understand your basic capacity.  [16:17] How to streamline your agency’s day-to-day by setting up time tracking and a comfortable project management tool.  [24:04] The importance of doing the hard things others aren’t doing to scale your business gradually.  Connect with Alyson: WebsiteLinkedInFree Copy of The Practical Agency Book.Real Life Agency Success StoriesWeekly agency tactics YouTube ChannelProfitability Accelerator Call - If you're looking to make a change today schedule your profitability accelerator call to define what is possible for your agency in the next 90 days.

How do you utilize LinkedIn as a lead-generation channel? Is your LinkedIn profile speaking to your ideal client’s pain points and solution? LinkedIn is a fantastic place for agency owners to engage with ideal clients and generate leads.  In this episode of The Agency Blueprint, we share the different ways to optimize your LinkedIn profile as a landing page to attract interest from prospective clients. We discuss how to properly represent yourself in the About section, provide value, and establish authority for people to want to work with you. Listen in to learn how to repurpose your already existing content and leverage it for your LinkedIn to engage prospects.  Key Questions:   [00:42] Is your LinkedIn profile optimized as a lead generation method for your agency? [03:22] Does your LinkedIn profile share anything about you, how you can help your ideal client and your authority and relevance in what you’re talking about? [04:23] Does your profile allow people to really want to engage with you?  What You’ll Discover: [01:30] How to optimize your LinkedIn name and title to attract interest from prospects. [03:40] Leveraging the top components of your LinkedIn profile to speak to your ideal client's pain point and solution.  [04:58] The importance of having an up-to-date profile photo that represents what you look like today. [06:35] How to properly represent yourself in the About section and draw people in with your value.  [10:13] How to leverage the featured section by providing value and a regulated call to action. [12:02] Have content – repurpose your content from other platforms to engage prospects.  [13:56] Why your job history shouldn’t look like a resume but where you are as an agency. Free Copy of The Practical Agency Book.Real Life Agency Success StoriesWeekly agency tactics YouTube ChannelProfitability Accelerator Call - If you're looking to make a change today schedule your profitability accelerator call to define what is possible for your agency in the next 90 days.

How do you differentiate your agency from everyone else in the market? Differentiating yourself is owning who you are and attracting your ideal clients. In this episode of The Agency Blueprint, I talk about how to take a bold step and stop sounding like every other agency in the market. I explain why aligning your why with your ideal client will help you build more meaningful and deeper relationships with your clients and have a greater impact.  Listen in to learn why there’s nothing better than creating a business that is genuinely you.  Key Questions:  [3:28] Are you ready to own who you are and attract the people you should be working with? [4:09] When was one of your happiest moments, and why was that the case?   What You’ll Discover: [1:16] Stop neglecting yourself and spend some time in your agency. [1:50] Why focusing on your competition is making it difficult to distinguish yourself.  [3:28] How to own who you are and start working with a client base you truly enjoy.  [4:41] How to tell your story and understand how it connects to your ideal client.  [8:49] Embrace the person you are and your story because that’s how you’ll attract your ideal client.Free Copy of The Practical Agency Book.Real Life Agency Success StoriesWeekly agency tactics YouTube ChannelProfitability Accelerator Call - If you're looking to make a change today schedule your profitability accelerator call to define what is possible for your agency in the next 90 days.

Would your team describe you as a servant leader? A servant leader strives to meet the needs of their team, hit their true value, and build meaningful relationships. In this episode of The Agency Blueprint, we discuss the meaning of servant leaders and the impact they have on their teams and businesses. We explain the ways you can listen and learn from your team by allowing them to share their feedback freely. Listen in to learn how to embrace and celebrate failure and allow your team the space to do the same.  Key Questions:   [4:02] What is the process of setting up a framework for servant leadership? [17:00] How are you exploring new opportunities and embracing failure to grow your agency?  [20:08] How are you adding value to yourself and your business by connecting and relating with like-minded people?  What You’ll Discover: [1:00] The three levels of leadership – title, transactional, and servant leaders.  [2:30] How servant leadership impacts your bottom line and the people you work with. [4:12] How to encourage your team to share their perspective so you can learn from them.  [6:53] How listening to your team and asking for feedback will help you improve your business.  [10:00] Focus on creating greater alignment that allows your team to be happy.  [13:05] The importance of getting to know your employees to connect better.  [15:18] The concept of celebrating failure and how it can lead to awesome growth. [18:37] Surround yourself with like-minded people with similar experiences. Free Copy of The Practical Agency Book.Real Life Agency Success StoriesWeekly agency tactics YouTube ChannelProfitability Accelerator Call - If you're looking to make a change today schedule your profitability accelerator call to define what is possible for your agency in the next 90 days.