Dec. 18, 2019

#Agency 6: 60% of Your New Rev Should Be Coming From Existing Clients w/ Drew McLellan

Most of the money that you don't have right now, but you want next year, should be coming from … clients you already have. On this #Agency series, cohost dives into why your existing client base is your greatest source of net-new revenue for 2020....

Most of the money that you don't have right now, but you want next year, should be coming from … clients you already have.

On this #Agency series, cohost Drew McLellan dives into why your existing client base is your greatest source of net-new revenue for 2020.

What we talked about:
1) You've already earned their trust
2) They're accustomed to sending you money every month or every quarter
3) You've already demonstrated how smart you are, and how much value you are providing
4) You are embedded within business on some level, and you have an opportunity to show how you could grow their business

This #Agency episode is co-hosted by Drew McLellan, “Top Dog” at Agency Management Institute.

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Transcript
WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.280 --> 00:00:04.080 There's a ton of noise out there. So how do you get decision makers 2 00:00:04.120 --> 00:00:09.189 to pay attention to your brand? Start a podcast and invite your ideal clients 3 00:00:09.429 --> 00:00:18.670 to be guests on your show. Learn more at sweetphish MEDIACOM. You're listening 4 00:00:18.750 --> 00:00:23.460 to be tob growth, a daily podcast for B TOB leaders. We've interviewed 5 00:00:23.460 --> 00:00:27.059 names you've probably heard before, like Gary vanner truck and Simon Senek, but 6 00:00:27.219 --> 00:00:31.460 you've probably never heard from the majority of our guests. That's because the bulk 7 00:00:31.500 --> 00:00:35.969 of our interviews aren't with professional speakers and authors. Most of our guests are 8 00:00:36.049 --> 00:00:40.810 in the trenches leading sales and marketing teams. They're implementing strategy, they're experimenting 9 00:00:40.890 --> 00:00:45.450 with tactics, they're building the fastest growing BB companies in the world. My 10 00:00:45.530 --> 00:00:48.890 name is James Carberry. I'm the founder of sweet fish media, a podcast 11 00:00:48.929 --> 00:00:52.159 agency for BB brands, and I'm also one of the CO hosts of this 12 00:00:52.240 --> 00:00:56.479 show. When we're not interviewing sales and marketing leaders, you'll hear stories from 13 00:00:56.520 --> 00:00:59.960 behind the scenes of our own business. Will share the ups and downs of 14 00:01:00.000 --> 00:01:03.280 our journey as we attempt to take over the world. Just getting well, 15 00:01:03.909 --> 00:01:14.469 maybe let's get into the show. Hey everybody, drew McClellan here from Agency 16 00:01:14.549 --> 00:01:19.219 Management Institute, happy to be back hosting the agency track of B Tob Growth. 17 00:01:19.659 --> 00:01:23.379 Thanks to James and the crew at sweet fish for inviting me to do 18 00:01:23.540 --> 00:01:26.019 this. If you are not familiar with they didn't the Management Institute, I 19 00:01:26.060 --> 00:01:30.659 will just give you a quick introduction. So we have been around since the 20 00:01:30.379 --> 00:01:36.209 S and our job is to help agency owners run the business of their business 21 00:01:36.370 --> 00:01:40.689 better. So our role is not to teach agency owners how to do branding 22 00:01:40.730 --> 00:01:44.969 better or how to do PPC or seo better. Our job is to help 23 00:01:45.010 --> 00:01:47.599 you run the back of the House as well as you run the front of 24 00:01:47.640 --> 00:01:52.719 the House. So we talked about things like finance and metrics and score cards 25 00:01:52.799 --> 00:01:57.840 and staffing issues and growth and new business and all those sorts of things that 26 00:01:59.359 --> 00:02:02.390 every business owner needs to worry about. But oftentimes for most of you, 27 00:02:02.909 --> 00:02:07.349 if you are an agency owner, you are typically accidental business owner. So 28 00:02:07.389 --> 00:02:12.590 it wasn't really your intention to own an agency and so this may not be 29 00:02:12.909 --> 00:02:15.219 this part of the business that you enjoy the most. So my job is 30 00:02:15.300 --> 00:02:20.819 to make it easier for you to make money, make more money and keep 31 00:02:20.939 --> 00:02:23.219 more of the money you make. So today what I want to talk about 32 00:02:23.659 --> 00:02:29.259 is the concept of how do you make more money? and honestly, in 33 00:02:29.460 --> 00:02:32.889 many cases money should be coming from a place that you don't often think of. 34 00:02:34.050 --> 00:02:38.490 So when I talked to business owners or agency owners about bisdev or new 35 00:02:38.569 --> 00:02:43.889 business, they immediately start talking to me about their prospect lists and their pipeline 36 00:02:43.930 --> 00:02:47.000 and all of that, and that's all critical and super important. But actually 37 00:02:47.719 --> 00:02:53.639 the lion share of your net new revenue should come from your existing clients. 38 00:02:53.800 --> 00:02:58.360 So let me say that again. Most of the money that you don't have 39 00:02:58.560 --> 00:03:01.990 today but you want to have next year should come from clients that you actually 40 00:03:02.069 --> 00:03:07.469 have today. So sixty two, seventy percent of your net new revenue should 41 00:03:07.469 --> 00:03:10.189 come from your existing clients, and there are a few reasons for that. 42 00:03:10.789 --> 00:03:15.780 First of all, you've already earned their trust. They are used to sending 43 00:03:15.860 --> 00:03:19.139 you money every month or every quarter or every time they get an invoice. 44 00:03:19.939 --> 00:03:23.500 You've already demonstrated to them how smart you are and how good you are and 45 00:03:23.580 --> 00:03:28.129 how you're changing their business. You are embedded in their business at some level, 46 00:03:28.210 --> 00:03:31.289 and so you have an opportunity to see other things they could or should 47 00:03:31.289 --> 00:03:36.169 be doing that would grow their business and all of those things add up to 48 00:03:36.330 --> 00:03:40.560 a much easier, faster sale. However, unfortunately, in many cases you 49 00:03:40.639 --> 00:03:45.159 are a ease or not thinking that way, that way at all. Your 50 00:03:45.199 --> 00:03:50.360 a's are thinking about taking care of the client, making sure that the client 51 00:03:50.479 --> 00:03:54.639 is happy, building a relationship with the clients, making sure that they are 52 00:03:54.870 --> 00:03:58.750 taking the order properly. A lot of you will tell me, if you're 53 00:03:58.750 --> 00:04:01.909 an agency owner, that one of your frustrations is is that you're a's are 54 00:04:01.990 --> 00:04:08.430 more order takers than they are business builders. And so one of your responsibilities 55 00:04:08.509 --> 00:04:13.580 as a business owner is to teach your AE's how to grow their book a 56 00:04:13.659 --> 00:04:16.339 business. And so in the a boot camps that we teach, one of 57 00:04:16.379 --> 00:04:20.939 the things, one of the concepts that I teach is this idea that really 58 00:04:20.980 --> 00:04:26.730 every ae is like a franchise, z. e. So the agency is 59 00:04:26.810 --> 00:04:30.970 the franchise, or so you are starbucks corporate, and what you've done is 60 00:04:30.009 --> 00:04:35.009 you've been trusted eachae with a set of starbucks in a certain location and it's 61 00:04:35.050 --> 00:04:40.600 their job to run those locations well and to grow them, to be more 62 00:04:40.639 --> 00:04:44.800 profitable, to have more revenue and all those things. And when we start 63 00:04:44.879 --> 00:04:47.360 talking that way, you can sort of see the a's eyes open up and 64 00:04:47.439 --> 00:04:51.949 go, oh, okay, I totally get that. Me Just maintaining the 65 00:04:53.069 --> 00:04:59.069 starbucks and just running it exactly how it is today is not actually what you're 66 00:04:59.110 --> 00:05:01.629 asking me to do. What you're really asking me to do is grow the 67 00:05:01.670 --> 00:05:06.980 book of business and, sticking with my analogy, if my starbucks really perform 68 00:05:08.139 --> 00:05:12.579 well and if they're more profitable and if I'm selling more cups of coffee and 69 00:05:12.819 --> 00:05:15.860 more of the lemon bars than odds are, you're going to give me more 70 00:05:15.939 --> 00:05:18.699 starbucks and I'm going to have more opportunity. And so when I talk that 71 00:05:18.779 --> 00:05:21.529 way to the a's they sort of get it, but the very first question 72 00:05:21.649 --> 00:05:27.649 they ask is super busy. How in the world do I have time to 73 00:05:27.769 --> 00:05:30.009 grow my book of business? And so that's what I want to talk about 74 00:05:30.009 --> 00:05:34.129 today, is how you can help your aeas grow their book of business. 75 00:05:34.329 --> 00:05:42.199 So, first and foremost, an AE cannot grow their clients if they don't 76 00:05:42.279 --> 00:05:46.920 understand how agency math works, if they do not understand that every agency has 77 00:05:46.920 --> 00:05:50.509 a gross revenue and out of that gross revenue comes all of your costs to 78 00:05:50.589 --> 00:05:55.269 goods, all of your hard costs, your contractors all of that and what's 79 00:05:55.269 --> 00:05:58.910 left is adjusted gross income. And out of that adjusted gross income that's the 80 00:05:59.029 --> 00:06:02.310 money that your agency gets to keep and that is the money that you spend 81 00:06:02.430 --> 00:06:08.740 on salaries, loaded salaries, so salaries and benefits, overhead and profit. 82 00:06:09.220 --> 00:06:13.620 And when the a's understand that, what they care about is your adjusted gross 83 00:06:13.660 --> 00:06:17.610 income because if they can manage their cost of goods, if they can manage 84 00:06:17.930 --> 00:06:23.009 how much you're spending that goes right back through the agency and out to a 85 00:06:23.089 --> 00:06:27.050 vendor, they can mitigate those costs and they can bring more of that money 86 00:06:27.089 --> 00:06:32.399 into Agi. And if they can manage the projects so that they're not expending 87 00:06:32.560 --> 00:06:35.879 more time and energy on the project than you budgeted, so they're not going 88 00:06:36.279 --> 00:06:41.560 over budget, they're not over servicing the client, then there's profit at the 89 00:06:41.600 --> 00:06:45.879 end of the day and ultimately that is the measure of their success, is 90 00:06:46.040 --> 00:06:50.389 is their money on the bottom line for their franchise's or for their their starbucks 91 00:06:50.470 --> 00:06:55.709 location? So first they have to understand agency math. Then they have to 92 00:06:55.790 --> 00:06:58.870 have some data. Not only do they have to understand it in the abstract, 93 00:06:58.910 --> 00:07:01.220 but they need to know actually what is their book of business worth? 94 00:07:01.339 --> 00:07:06.819 What is the adjusted gross income of the clients that they serve today. Because 95 00:07:06.860 --> 00:07:11.100 if you're asking me to grow one of my clients or all of my clients, 96 00:07:11.660 --> 00:07:14.019 how do I know if I'm growing them if I don't know what size 97 00:07:14.060 --> 00:07:17.050 they are now? So for most owners this is a concept they have. 98 00:07:17.129 --> 00:07:19.170 Sir, wrap your head around that. You have to share some of your 99 00:07:19.209 --> 00:07:25.730 financials with these key employees and I'll tell you there is no other employee. 100 00:07:25.930 --> 00:07:30.639 I'm sure you have lots of fantastic employees, but there is no set of 101 00:07:30.759 --> 00:07:35.680 employees who has more of a direct impact on your bottom line and how profitable 102 00:07:35.720 --> 00:07:40.160 your business is. Then your acount exacts. So these are people who need 103 00:07:40.240 --> 00:07:46.269 to know, okay, I'm managing three clients and combined my adjusted gross income 104 00:07:46.430 --> 00:07:48.750 is four hundredzero dollars, or whatever it is. They need to know that 105 00:07:48.870 --> 00:07:51.430 and they need to know it down to the clients, and then they need 106 00:07:51.470 --> 00:07:55.269 to be able to track how it's growing over time. So a month, 107 00:07:55.389 --> 00:07:59.139 over months, they need to be given an Agi update so that they are 108 00:07:59.339 --> 00:08:03.939 tracking the growth of their clients every AE. A good ae should be able 109 00:08:03.939 --> 00:08:07.620 to grow their book of business by ten percent a year. So if your 110 00:08:07.699 --> 00:08:15.050 AE is managing four hundred thousand dollars of Agi today. A year from now 111 00:08:15.250 --> 00:08:20.129 those same clients should be worth about four hundred and forty thousand dollars to your 112 00:08:22.290 --> 00:08:26.209 to your agency. So you should be growing that book of business. Are 113 00:08:26.250 --> 00:08:28.199 All three clients going to grow at the same volume? No, they may 114 00:08:28.279 --> 00:08:33.600 grow one client the Fortyzero in the other two maybe stagnant, or one may 115 00:08:33.240 --> 00:08:37.759 cut back and take a step back. But the bottom line is it's one 116 00:08:37.799 --> 00:08:41.120 of the measurables that should tell you whether or not an ae is doing a 117 00:08:41.200 --> 00:08:43.990 good job. And one of the metrics and a should hold themselves accountable to 118 00:08:45.470 --> 00:08:48.269 is are they growing their book a business by ten percent? So to do 119 00:08:48.470 --> 00:08:52.750 that they need to know what their Agi is and they need to know how 120 00:08:52.830 --> 00:08:56.580 that is progressing. They also need room. They need room to think, 121 00:08:58.100 --> 00:09:01.940 they need room to spend time on site with the client, they need room 122 00:09:03.059 --> 00:09:07.340 to get smarter about the industry and the business of the clients. So you 123 00:09:07.460 --> 00:09:11.009 know, in some cases you're an agency that has a Nicht specialty and all 124 00:09:11.049 --> 00:09:15.889 of your clients may be in the same vertical or industry. In other cases 125 00:09:15.929 --> 00:09:18.450 you may be more of a generalist and if so, you're ae may be 126 00:09:18.690 --> 00:09:22.570 managing the butcher, the baker and the candlestick maker. Well, they need 127 00:09:22.649 --> 00:09:28.279 to understand all three of those industries. They need to understand the competitive landscape, 128 00:09:28.960 --> 00:09:33.039 how technology is changing those industries. They need to know as much about 129 00:09:33.039 --> 00:09:37.159 those industries as if they were running a business inside that industry, because otherwise 130 00:09:37.480 --> 00:09:43.429 they can't offer up good counsel to your clients. They also need some room 131 00:09:43.710 --> 00:09:48.149 to just think and plan, and so one of the challenges is if you're 132 00:09:48.269 --> 00:09:54.179 a's are so overscheduled in terms of client service that they don't have time to 133 00:09:54.299 --> 00:10:01.700 actually spend a few hours reading trade pubs, going to a conference, getting 134 00:10:01.700 --> 00:10:05.620 on a Webinar with an industry expert, whatever it may be, that it's 135 00:10:05.620 --> 00:10:09.570 pretty hard for them to keep improving their knowledge base and for them to keep 136 00:10:09.610 --> 00:10:15.250 growing the business. They also need a plan, so this growth is not 137 00:10:15.529 --> 00:10:18.730 going to happen by accident, and so one of the things that you need 138 00:10:18.769 --> 00:10:22.799 to hold them accountable for is, again, you if I said you show 139 00:10:22.799 --> 00:10:26.879 me your new business plan, what you're going to show me, typically in 140 00:10:26.919 --> 00:10:31.519 an agency, is a plan to go out and find prospects and get them 141 00:10:31.559 --> 00:10:35.149 to come to your agency and be a client. Very few agencies have a 142 00:10:35.230 --> 00:10:41.110 new business plan, which is new business growth within an existing client. So 143 00:10:41.389 --> 00:10:46.230 every ae should have a documented, measured plan, meaning I can say yes, 144 00:10:46.309 --> 00:10:50.220 I accomplished it or no, I did not. So, with smart 145 00:10:50.259 --> 00:10:54.179 goals and all the things that you bake into the work you do with clients, 146 00:10:54.899 --> 00:10:58.059 they need to have a plan for every client of how they're going to 147 00:10:58.100 --> 00:11:01.539 grow that book of business and then they need someone to hold them accountable to 148 00:11:01.659 --> 00:11:03.529 that. So, whether you're doing one on ones with them, whether it's 149 00:11:03.529 --> 00:11:07.889 a director of account service, someone needs to be looking at that plan with 150 00:11:07.090 --> 00:11:11.649 them and assessing whether or not the plan is working and, if it's not 151 00:11:11.730 --> 00:11:15.529 working, tweaking it and, if it is working, then pouring some gasoline 152 00:11:15.570 --> 00:11:18.799 on that fire so it can work even better. So the other thing you're 153 00:11:18.840 --> 00:11:24.840 a's need is they need to really understand how to grow that book of business. 154 00:11:24.919 --> 00:11:28.840 And the first thing that they need to understand is one of the gifts 155 00:11:28.879 --> 00:11:33.870 that they have is just by the nature of them having an outside perspective, 156 00:11:33.950 --> 00:11:39.190 they can see the clients business through fresh eyes, through different eyes than the 157 00:11:39.309 --> 00:11:41.669 client is ever going to be able to see it. So back in my 158 00:11:41.830 --> 00:11:45.909 agency because, as many of you know, not only do I run AMI, 159 00:11:46.110 --> 00:11:48.419 but I still own my own agency, which will be twenty five next 160 00:11:48.460 --> 00:11:52.379 year. One of the things we talked about in my agency all the time 161 00:11:52.539 --> 00:11:56.820 is you cannot accurately read the label in a bottle if you're inside the bottle, 162 00:11:56.940 --> 00:12:01.250 and our clients can't see their business accurately. They see it from that 163 00:12:01.490 --> 00:12:05.330 insider point of view and one of the great things about agencies, and one 164 00:12:05.370 --> 00:12:11.649 of the reasons why clients higher agencies, is because they can see things from 165 00:12:11.690 --> 00:12:15.799 this outside perspective. So a's and under need to understand that that's a gift 166 00:12:15.879 --> 00:12:18.799 that they have and they need to lean on it and use it all the 167 00:12:18.960 --> 00:12:22.039 time. But they also need to be a student of the clients industry. 168 00:12:22.080 --> 00:12:26.480 So, as I said before, they need to spend time learning the industry. 169 00:12:26.519 --> 00:12:30.429 They need to understand what the trends are, what the risks are with 170 00:12:30.590 --> 00:12:35.830 the competitive issues are how technology is changing that. But they also need to 171 00:12:35.870 --> 00:12:39.509 do some basic blocking and tackling. And one of the things that I think 172 00:12:39.750 --> 00:12:43.500 a's do too much of is sit on their rear end in their and the 173 00:12:43.580 --> 00:12:48.659 office. It is as so easy to bang out an email rather than pick 174 00:12:48.700 --> 00:12:52.179 up the phone. It is so easy to bang out an email or text 175 00:12:52.259 --> 00:12:56.019 to client rather than get up, get in your car and go see them 176 00:12:56.059 --> 00:13:00.490 or get on a plane and go see them. And it's one of the 177 00:13:00.809 --> 00:13:05.809 flaws, I think, of younger as as they don't really understand or value 178 00:13:07.570 --> 00:13:13.000 the importance of time actually spent with a client. So I think they need 179 00:13:13.039 --> 00:13:16.759 to spend a lot more time doing what I call firsthand observations, and that 180 00:13:16.879 --> 00:13:20.679 could be anything from going to the clients office and job shadowing him or her 181 00:13:20.799 --> 00:13:24.919 for a day. It might be going to the factory floor and watching how 182 00:13:24.960 --> 00:13:28.830 they make the widget that the clients sells. It might be going on site 183 00:13:30.429 --> 00:13:35.070 where a customers using the product or service that the clients sells. It might 184 00:13:35.110 --> 00:13:39.750 be doing a ride along with the salespeople and hearing the conversations that they are 185 00:13:39.830 --> 00:13:46.580 having with prospects. A great way to learn a ton about your clients just 186 00:13:46.700 --> 00:13:48.899 to hang out with them in a trade show booth for a day or two. 187 00:13:50.340 --> 00:13:52.740 When you watch how they interact with people who are walking up to the 188 00:13:52.779 --> 00:13:58.610 booth and you are hearing the questions that are being asked and you're watching the 189 00:13:58.730 --> 00:14:03.289 responses, your a's are going to get so many ideas of how they can 190 00:14:03.409 --> 00:14:09.289 help that client sell better, communicate better, educate better and in some cases, 191 00:14:09.450 --> 00:14:13.200 and this is ideal, in some cases the ideas they get are going 192 00:14:13.240 --> 00:14:16.600 to have nothing to do with your agency. And there is nothing smarter than 193 00:14:16.679 --> 00:14:22.960 being helpful to a client when you benefit at not at all, from what 194 00:14:22.080 --> 00:14:26.230 you're doing. So when you can help a client and there's nothing in it 195 00:14:26.389 --> 00:14:31.350 for you, what that does for the trust of that client is so huge, 196 00:14:31.429 --> 00:14:35.549 because now they know you're actually thinking about their business because you care about 197 00:14:35.549 --> 00:14:39.740 their business, not because you want to stick your hand in their pocket and 198 00:14:39.860 --> 00:14:43.940 get more money. So if you actually genuinely care about their business and you're 199 00:14:43.980 --> 00:14:48.659 giving them ideas and thoughts and reflections and that outside perspective that have nothing to 200 00:14:48.700 --> 00:14:52.860 do with the agency, then when you do go to them and say, 201 00:14:52.889 --> 00:14:56.490 Hey, I think you need a new video or I think you need a 202 00:14:56.610 --> 00:15:00.529 new this, something that is going to benefit the agency because you're going to 203 00:15:00.570 --> 00:15:05.490 help them create that tool or program or whatever it is, they don't second 204 00:15:05.529 --> 00:15:09.159 guess you. They don't wonder if you're suggesting it because you just want more 205 00:15:09.200 --> 00:15:11.200 money or if it's really going to be better for them, because you've already 206 00:15:11.200 --> 00:15:16.919 demonstrated that you care about their business and you are invested in their success. 207 00:15:16.960 --> 00:15:20.470 Another great thing eight he's can do is secret shopping, and secret shopping might 208 00:15:20.509 --> 00:15:28.669 be literally walking into the clients store or storefront or business and asking questions or 209 00:15:28.230 --> 00:15:31.870 trying to buy something, but it could also be, you know, interacting 210 00:15:31.950 --> 00:15:35.580 with a Chat Bot. It could also be calling a customer service line, 211 00:15:37.100 --> 00:15:41.100 all of those things. When the AE does those things and then reflects back 212 00:15:41.139 --> 00:15:45.580 to the client what that experience was like, that does two things. One, 213 00:15:45.659 --> 00:15:50.769 it makes the a smarter about the business and to it helps the client 214 00:15:50.850 --> 00:15:54.809 because you're giving them that outside perspective. But they as can't do this by 215 00:15:54.850 --> 00:15:58.330 themselves. They also need some support from the owner, and what that looks 216 00:15:58.370 --> 00:16:04.600 like is they need your help and support in breaking out the time and having 217 00:16:04.720 --> 00:16:08.720 permission to do these things. So, for example, let's say an AE 218 00:16:08.799 --> 00:16:11.720 wants to go spend the day at a trade show with a client. So 219 00:16:12.080 --> 00:16:15.360 that's eight hours of builabild time that they're not going to be spending. That 220 00:16:15.440 --> 00:16:19.070 might be a plane ticket, it might be a hotel room, and the 221 00:16:19.149 --> 00:16:25.350 very first question they're anticipating you're going to ask is are we billing the client 222 00:16:25.509 --> 00:16:30.549 for this and your response needs to be no on occasion. You have to 223 00:16:30.669 --> 00:16:37.580 invest in the clients and you have to let the AEA's invest in the clients, 224 00:16:37.620 --> 00:16:41.700 both in terms of time and sometimes some hard costs, because otherwise the 225 00:16:41.820 --> 00:16:45.220 conversation looks very different. When the AI says, Hey, Bob, I 226 00:16:45.299 --> 00:16:48.929 want to come to the trade show with you and I want to spend the 227 00:16:48.970 --> 00:16:52.850 day on the floor with you, and the first thing Bob's going to say 228 00:16:52.929 --> 00:16:56.690 is, I don't have budget for that. When the AE says, Oh, 229 00:16:56.769 --> 00:16:59.490 don't worry about it, this is our investment so I can learn more 230 00:16:59.529 --> 00:17:02.399 about the business and we can spend some time together. I really just want 231 00:17:02.399 --> 00:17:04.759 to hear what people are asking and the ways that you interact with them during 232 00:17:04.799 --> 00:17:10.119 the trade show. Bob a takes a deep breath of relief because he knows 233 00:17:10.319 --> 00:17:11.839 doesn't have to come up with a budget. But then the next thing that 234 00:17:11.960 --> 00:17:15.869 Bob is going to feel is gratitude, gratitude that his agency is willing to 235 00:17:15.950 --> 00:17:21.069 invest in him and his business. So you've got to give them some latitude. 236 00:17:21.109 --> 00:17:25.069 Should every client have the same amount of latitude? Absolutely not. So 237 00:17:25.150 --> 00:17:30.339 you've got assess which clients you think have the greatest opportunity for growth, for 238 00:17:30.460 --> 00:17:34.900 profitability, and obviously that AE is going to have more latitude than an ae 239 00:17:36.180 --> 00:17:38.940 for a tiny little project client. The other things that you're a's need to 240 00:17:38.980 --> 00:17:44.769 do is they need to know how their client is evaluated. So they should 241 00:17:44.769 --> 00:17:48.809 be saying to their clients, Hey, as we're working on the plan, 242 00:17:48.130 --> 00:17:52.410 the business plan, the marketing plan, how do you get a raised, 243 00:17:52.529 --> 00:17:56.529 how do you get a bonus, how do you get a promotion? Because 244 00:17:56.569 --> 00:18:00.079 I want to make sure we bake that into our planning. So let me 245 00:18:00.119 --> 00:18:03.039 give you an example. So I have an agency client and they had this 246 00:18:03.160 --> 00:18:07.039 conversation which, by the way, most people do not have with their clients 247 00:18:07.359 --> 00:18:08.640 and they think, oh, that's too personal, I don't want to ask 248 00:18:08.680 --> 00:18:11.000 it, but I'll tell you, your clients love it when you ask this 249 00:18:11.039 --> 00:18:15.509 question. How do I help you get a raise, a promotion or a 250 00:18:15.549 --> 00:18:19.789 bonus? Who Doesn't love a vendor or a partner who says that to them? 251 00:18:19.950 --> 00:18:23.670 But anyway, an agency who had that conversation with their client and what 252 00:18:23.789 --> 00:18:27.980 the clients said to them surprise them, which was I get a bonus if 253 00:18:29.019 --> 00:18:32.259 I don't spend my entire marketing budget, and they said, okay, well, 254 00:18:32.339 --> 00:18:34.099 how much do we have to leave on the table for you to get 255 00:18:34.099 --> 00:18:37.900 your bonus? And he said, Oh, you know x number of dollars. 256 00:18:37.380 --> 00:18:41.529 So every year, and this was five or six years ago, every 257 00:18:41.609 --> 00:18:45.210 year one of the goals of the agency is to make sure they leave that 258 00:18:45.210 --> 00:18:52.410 amount of money inside the marketing budget unspent so that their client gets his bonus. 259 00:18:52.890 --> 00:18:55.960 Now, do you think he loves his agency? Do you think he 260 00:18:56.200 --> 00:19:00.799 advocates for them every time the CEO says, Hey, is it time for 261 00:19:00.839 --> 00:19:04.559 an agency change? Of course he does, because they're helping him get what 262 00:19:04.720 --> 00:19:08.160 he needs and wants as well. Another thing you're easy need to do is 263 00:19:08.240 --> 00:19:14.750 they need to obviously understand the clients overarching goals and objectives and we need to 264 00:19:14.829 --> 00:19:19.470 be really good about laddering up whatever we're recommending to them back to those goals 265 00:19:19.509 --> 00:19:25.099 and objectives and we need to be able to measure what we're doing back to 266 00:19:25.220 --> 00:19:30.619 those goals and objectives. So today, not being able to measure or document 267 00:19:30.779 --> 00:19:33.180 or prove the value of what we're doing means that we are going to have 268 00:19:33.220 --> 00:19:37.019 a very short run with a client. The other thing that you're a's can 269 00:19:37.140 --> 00:19:41.529 do that will allow them to grow their clients book of business is they can 270 00:19:41.609 --> 00:19:45.529 make their clients smarter and they get there's a couple ways to do this. 271 00:19:45.970 --> 00:19:48.450 You have to be really careful about this. It's a delicate dance. You 272 00:19:48.569 --> 00:19:53.759 don't ever obviously want to suggest that your client is not as knowledgeable or a 273 00:19:53.960 --> 00:19:57.079 smart as they need to be, but there are ways that you can help 274 00:19:57.160 --> 00:20:02.400 them fill in the gaps, because your clients are crazy busy. They are 275 00:20:02.400 --> 00:20:04.799 running from meeting to meeting the meeting, and part of why they hire an 276 00:20:04.799 --> 00:20:08.910 agency is because they don't have the time to delve into the things that they 277 00:20:08.950 --> 00:20:18.109 should be studying. So absolutely sending them trend reports or competitive analysis and things 278 00:20:18.150 --> 00:20:21.190 like that. And you can soften that blow by saying, Hey, I 279 00:20:21.349 --> 00:20:22.859 know you've probably already seen this, but I wanted to give it to you 280 00:20:22.940 --> 00:20:26.019 so you could give your team or you know what, I know that you 281 00:20:26.099 --> 00:20:32.059 are super familiar with the changes in the Google Algorithm, but I wanted you 282 00:20:32.099 --> 00:20:37.170 to have this so you can explain to the CEO in an easy way why 283 00:20:37.250 --> 00:20:41.210 we're tweaking the work that we're doing. So you can use language to soften 284 00:20:41.289 --> 00:20:45.809 the fact that you're trying to educate them. Another great way to educate your 285 00:20:45.930 --> 00:20:52.079 clients is to help them do more research. Before the recession, agencies did 286 00:20:52.119 --> 00:20:56.319 a ton of research and it was one of the things that we we decided 287 00:20:56.480 --> 00:21:00.359 was a luxury when the recession came and we really haven't brought it back to 288 00:21:00.400 --> 00:21:07.869 the same level that it should be post recession. So helping your client budget 289 00:21:07.950 --> 00:21:11.789 for research and do research is a great way for them to get smarter and, 290 00:21:11.950 --> 00:21:14.670 honestly, for you, and you're aid to get smarter as well. 291 00:21:15.309 --> 00:21:18.980 Another thing that we as agency folks have to get much more comfortable with is, 292 00:21:18.700 --> 00:21:22.660 you know it, back in the day, when I started in the 293 00:21:22.740 --> 00:21:27.619 business, marketing and sales were always completely different departments and typically they were the 294 00:21:27.779 --> 00:21:32.859 mortal enemy of each other. So they were constantly throwing each other under the 295 00:21:32.970 --> 00:21:37.970 bus when things did not go well. Now today, post recession, marketing 296 00:21:37.049 --> 00:21:42.170 and sales is often the same department, is often run by the same person 297 00:21:42.210 --> 00:21:48.000 and even if it's not, they're much more closely aligned. And so prerecession 298 00:21:48.000 --> 00:21:49.880 agencies sort of had to pick, we had to pick sides, and we 299 00:21:49.960 --> 00:21:52.680 always, of course, pick the marketing side because that's where our client was 300 00:21:52.759 --> 00:21:56.880 and that's where the budget was, and so we too sort of stopped our 301 00:21:57.000 --> 00:22:02.309 thinking and our efforts on the marketing side of the equation and we didn't cross 302 00:22:02.430 --> 00:22:06.109 over the line to sales. Today we can't afford to do that. We've 303 00:22:06.109 --> 00:22:10.710 got to help our client own the entire sales funnel, from I don't know 304 00:22:10.829 --> 00:22:14.549 you, from Adam, all the way to trial and repeat purchase, which 305 00:22:14.630 --> 00:22:19.380 means we've got to be knowledgeable about and we have to be building a marketing 306 00:22:19.500 --> 00:22:26.859 and sales plan for the entire organization. So that might be sticking your nose 307 00:22:26.980 --> 00:22:30.410 into things like making sure the sales people have the right training, making sure 308 00:22:30.450 --> 00:22:37.289 they have the right materials, spending more time eavesdropping on sales phone calls, 309 00:22:37.369 --> 00:22:41.609 whatever it is. We used to stop at that dotted line when marketing turned 310 00:22:41.650 --> 00:22:44.839 into sales. We can't do that anymore. So you're a yes. To 311 00:22:44.880 --> 00:22:51.000 get comfortable with this whole idea of influencing sales as well as marketing. Another 312 00:22:51.119 --> 00:22:56.680 great way to generate more revenue for the client and therefore the agency, just 313 00:22:56.839 --> 00:23:02.470 to help the clients chase lost opportunities. So, whether it's customers of theirs 314 00:23:02.509 --> 00:23:07.230 that have gone away, or maybe it's somebody who was did a trial or 315 00:23:07.750 --> 00:23:14.140 took a sales call but never like close the deal. Those are very warm 316 00:23:14.299 --> 00:23:18.500 prospects that often times at a surprising amount. Honestly, I'm surprised at how 317 00:23:18.660 --> 00:23:26.180 often businesses don't pursue those opportunities. One somebody has said no, they sort 318 00:23:26.220 --> 00:23:30.650 of forget about them. So I think you can help clients make more sales 319 00:23:30.170 --> 00:23:36.490 with those easy, warm prospects by helping them create programs that circle back around 320 00:23:37.130 --> 00:23:41.519 to in essence, retarget I don't necessarily mean the digital retargeting, but retargeting 321 00:23:41.759 --> 00:23:45.720 past or what I would call close call prospects, people who got close to 322 00:23:45.839 --> 00:23:48.759 buying but then they didn't and then the other the other thing that you're as 323 00:23:48.839 --> 00:23:52.480 can really focus on is, you know, a lot of businesses are really 324 00:23:52.599 --> 00:24:00.549 struggling with managing customer service today in a digital age where we're reviews and ratings 325 00:24:00.670 --> 00:24:06.069 and comments and discussions about their business are happening all over the web and most 326 00:24:06.069 --> 00:24:11.460 clients are absolutely overwhelmed. And how to manage that, how to mitigate the 327 00:24:11.539 --> 00:24:15.380 bad reviews by getting more good reviews, all of those things are areas where 328 00:24:15.420 --> 00:24:19.619 you're ae can help grow the book a business. So here's what I would 329 00:24:19.660 --> 00:24:22.180 suggest that you do. I think you need to sit down with your AAs 330 00:24:22.460 --> 00:24:27.049 and I think you have to help them understand hey, your job is not 331 00:24:27.289 --> 00:24:30.490 just to keep our clients happy. Your job is to help our clients grow 332 00:24:30.569 --> 00:24:34.089 their business, which, is a result, will grow our work with them, 333 00:24:34.130 --> 00:24:38.640 and so I need you to be a business advisor to them. It's 334 00:24:38.680 --> 00:24:45.480 not enough to be their marketing tactics delivery system. It is really about being 335 00:24:45.519 --> 00:24:52.359 a business advisor, about really understanding their industry and understanding how they impact our 336 00:24:52.440 --> 00:24:56.109 agency. So I want to walk you through agency math, I want to 337 00:24:56.150 --> 00:25:00.069 help you understand Agi and want to show you what your book of business is 338 00:25:00.269 --> 00:25:03.269 worth, and then we should set a goal of how you're going to grow 339 00:25:03.349 --> 00:25:06.869 that by a minimum of ten percent, and then let's work on putting together 340 00:25:06.910 --> 00:25:10.740 a plan. All of that is absolutely within your control and, if you 341 00:25:10.779 --> 00:25:14.940 think about it, what I'm saying to you is without one new business call, 342 00:25:15.380 --> 00:25:21.019 without one prospect, you can grow your Agi by fifty two, sixty 343 00:25:21.099 --> 00:25:26.329 to seventy percent simply with the clients you have, and that is time well 344 00:25:26.450 --> 00:25:30.609 spent, because you also know that the more hooks you have into a client, 345 00:25:30.769 --> 00:25:33.089 the more value you're bringing to them. The more different things you're doing 346 00:25:33.210 --> 00:25:36.880 for them, the harder it is for them to break up. So it's 347 00:25:36.920 --> 00:25:41.400 also retention tool. If the AE's step up into that advisor role and they 348 00:25:41.440 --> 00:25:45.960 understand that it's their job. Really, they're all aim ad job is to 349 00:25:47.079 --> 00:25:49.829 retain the clients and grow that book of business, and the best way to 350 00:25:49.910 --> 00:25:53.950 do that is to help those clients grow their business. All of a sudden 351 00:25:55.309 --> 00:25:59.309 they look at their job differently, they have different metrics to be measured by 352 00:25:59.869 --> 00:26:03.339 and your agency is more profitable. So that's a beautiful thing for everybody. 353 00:26:03.380 --> 00:26:08.420 All right, hopefully that was helpful. If you want more information about the 354 00:26:08.539 --> 00:26:12.579 a boot camp or anything else that am I does, head over to agency 355 00:26:12.619 --> 00:26:18.690 Management Institutecom. Happy to have you poke around there. We have tons of 356 00:26:18.769 --> 00:26:22.049 free resources for you there. We also do our own podcast build a better 357 00:26:22.089 --> 00:26:26.289 agency. We have a new episode every week. So I welcome you and 358 00:26:26.369 --> 00:26:29.730 invite you to take a listen and see if that would be helpful to you, 359 00:26:30.250 --> 00:26:34.079 and I'll be back next month to add to this track on BB growth. 360 00:26:34.160 --> 00:26:37.000 Thanks again to the crew. They're for inviting me to be a part 361 00:26:37.039 --> 00:26:44.480 of it and I'll talk to you soon. Thanks we totally get it. 362 00:26:44.880 --> 00:26:48.509 We publish a ton of content on this podcast and it can be a lot 363 00:26:48.670 --> 00:26:52.390 to keep up with. That's why we've started the BETB growth big three, 364 00:26:52.829 --> 00:26:56.390 a no fluff email that wools down our three biggest takeaways from an entire week 365 00:26:56.430 --> 00:27:03.059 of episodes. Sign up today at Sweet Fish Mediacom big three. That sweet 366 00:27:03.059 --> 00:27:04.900 PHISH MEDIACOM Big Three