Jan. 8, 2020

#Agency 7: You Know You Should Differentiate Your Agency - But How? w/ Drew McLellan

In this 7th episode of the #Agency Series, we hear from Drew McLellan, Founder at Agency Management Institute. Want to get a no-fluff email that boils down our 3 biggest takeaways from an entire week of B2B Growth episodes? Sign up today: We'll never...

In this 7th episode of the #Agency Series, we hear from Drew McLellan, Founder at Agency Management Institute.

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Transcript
WEBVTT 1 00:00:05.960 --> 00:00:08.789 Hey there, this is James Carberry, founder of sweet fish media and one 2 00:00:08.830 --> 00:00:11.310 of the CO hosts of the show. For the last year and a half 3 00:00:11.310 --> 00:00:14.550 I've been working on my very first book. In it I share the three 4 00:00:14.589 --> 00:00:18.949 part framework we've used as the foundation for our growth here at sweetfish. Now 5 00:00:18.989 --> 00:00:22.339 there are lots of companies that have raised a bunch of money and have grown 6 00:00:22.500 --> 00:00:26.219 insanely fast. We've talked to a lot of them on the show. We've 7 00:00:26.260 --> 00:00:31.739 decided to bootstrap our business, which usually equates to really slow growth, but 8 00:00:31.899 --> 00:00:35.810 using the strategy outlined in the book, we're on pace to be one of 9 00:00:35.890 --> 00:00:39.969 inks fastest growing companies in two thousand and twenty. The book is called content 10 00:00:40.090 --> 00:00:44.170 based networking, how to instantly connect with anyone you want to know, and 11 00:00:44.250 --> 00:00:48.609 I'm thrilled to tell you that the book has officially launched. If you're a 12 00:00:48.609 --> 00:00:51.560 fan of audio books, like me, you can find the book on audible, 13 00:00:51.880 --> 00:00:54.320 or if you like physical books, you can find it on Amazon. 14 00:00:54.719 --> 00:01:00.399 Just search content based networking or James Carberry. That's car bea ARY, inaudible 15 00:01:00.479 --> 00:01:04.230 or Amazon and it should pop right up. If you're listening to this between 16 00:01:04.269 --> 00:01:08.109 January seven and January ten, you can snag the kindle version of the book 17 00:01:08.430 --> 00:01:11.549 for just ninety nine cents. All right, let's get into the show. 18 00:01:14.950 --> 00:01:19.340 Hey, there everybody, drew McLellan here from Agency Management Institute. Welcome to 19 00:01:19.459 --> 00:01:25.140 another episode of the agency track on BB growth. Super excited to be your 20 00:01:25.180 --> 00:01:29.019 host on this track. Thanks to James and the rest of the crew at 21 00:01:29.420 --> 00:01:33.890 sweet fish for inviting me to do this. I love talking about agency stuff, 22 00:01:33.969 --> 00:01:38.530 so it's great to have a channel like this where I can have these 23 00:01:38.609 --> 00:01:42.170 conversations with you. So, if you're not familiar with Ami, we've been 24 00:01:42.170 --> 00:01:46.769 around since the S and our job is to help agency owners run their business 25 00:01:46.890 --> 00:01:49.599 better. So we don't teach you how to do your client facing work, 26 00:01:49.959 --> 00:01:57.000 but we do help you learn the best practices around running the business of your 27 00:01:57.040 --> 00:02:00.549 business better. So whether we're talking about finance and metrics to know whether or 28 00:02:00.549 --> 00:02:05.430 not you're financially healthy, whether we're in making sure that you are getting the 29 00:02:05.510 --> 00:02:09.509 twenty percent profit at the end of every year like we recommend, whether we 30 00:02:09.669 --> 00:02:15.229 are talking about how to handle the employee turnover you're having, those are the 31 00:02:15.270 --> 00:02:17.300 kinds of issues that we talk about a D Ami. I have all kinds 32 00:02:17.340 --> 00:02:23.939 of workshops and live events and coaching and all kinds of other stuff that we 33 00:02:23.979 --> 00:02:28.060 do. We work with about two hundred and fifty agencies a year and we've 34 00:02:28.099 --> 00:02:30.849 been around since the S, so we certainly know the agency space. In 35 00:02:30.930 --> 00:02:35.009 addition to doing that work, one of the other reasons why we know the 36 00:02:35.050 --> 00:02:39.370 agency space is every one of us that works at Ami still actively owns and 37 00:02:39.449 --> 00:02:44.009 runs their own agencies. So we are in the trenches just like you are, 38 00:02:44.439 --> 00:02:47.080 and we're just sharing best practices from the industry. So anyway, that's 39 00:02:47.080 --> 00:02:51.800 what we do all day. So what I want to talk about today is 40 00:02:52.199 --> 00:02:58.280 agency positioning. So this is an age old issue and question. I probably 41 00:02:58.319 --> 00:03:02.430 talk to an agency owner about this every single week and for many agency owners 42 00:03:02.430 --> 00:03:07.710 they struggle. You know that you should position yourself, you know you should 43 00:03:07.710 --> 00:03:13.099 differentiate yourself. The same speech you give your clients about not looking and sounding 44 00:03:13.219 --> 00:03:15.939 the same as everybody else out there, you know applies to you as well. 45 00:03:16.740 --> 00:03:21.300 But it is much more difficult to do when you're talking about your own 46 00:03:21.340 --> 00:03:24.699 business than it is the clarity that you have when you're looking at someone else's 47 00:03:24.740 --> 00:03:28.650 business. So I want to talk a little bit about all of that. 48 00:03:29.330 --> 00:03:32.889 So you know what the problem is. The problem is that when you introduce 49 00:03:32.969 --> 00:03:38.650 yourself as a full service integrated agency, which is how you all, by 50 00:03:38.689 --> 00:03:42.120 the way, introduce yourselves, then all of a sudden you sound like everybody 51 00:03:42.120 --> 00:03:46.800 else. You are the General Practitioner and, as I have often said, 52 00:03:46.319 --> 00:03:51.360 here's the deal with being the general practitioner. It's very limiting in terms of 53 00:03:51.719 --> 00:03:54.750 who you can serve, both in terms of the kinds of businesses and the 54 00:03:54.870 --> 00:04:00.949 geography. So no one's going to drive by five general practitioners to get to 55 00:04:00.030 --> 00:04:04.310 the airport to get on a plane to go see a general practitioner and another 56 00:04:04.430 --> 00:04:08.830 city. But man, if I want to see the brain surgeon at Mayo, 57 00:04:09.550 --> 00:04:15.180 I absolutely will drive by several hospitals to get to the airport to fly 58 00:04:15.340 --> 00:04:18.579 to Rochester, Minnesota, to go to Mayo Clinic and talk to that specialist. 59 00:04:18.899 --> 00:04:21.699 And that's what position is really all about. It is do you want 60 00:04:21.699 --> 00:04:26.129 to be the general practitioner or do you want to be the specialist? And 61 00:04:26.209 --> 00:04:30.490 I will say to you that you know what's a best practice for your business. 62 00:04:30.889 --> 00:04:33.970 So I'm going to talk to you about some of your options, but 63 00:04:34.170 --> 00:04:39.120 honestly, you already know what to do. The real question is do you 64 00:04:39.240 --> 00:04:43.920 have the courage to do it? Because one of the reasons why, and 65 00:04:44.079 --> 00:04:46.240 by the way, this is great insight for you in terms of your clients, 66 00:04:46.560 --> 00:04:50.120 one of the reasons why you don't want to specialize is because you think 67 00:04:50.120 --> 00:04:54.870 you're leaving money on the table, and I'm going to argue with you that 68 00:04:54.870 --> 00:05:00.230 actually, the more specialized you are, the more attractive you are to prospects, 69 00:05:00.550 --> 00:05:03.110 the more clients come knocking on your door rather than you going to them, 70 00:05:03.189 --> 00:05:09.980 and typically the more profitable those clients are. When you serve the butcher 71 00:05:10.019 --> 00:05:13.300 and the baker and the candlestick maker, it is harder to make money and 72 00:05:13.459 --> 00:05:17.459 all those different industries. IS EASIER TO BE SUPER SMART About one industry or 73 00:05:17.579 --> 00:05:21.689 one area of specialty rather than trying to be smart about every business. The 74 00:05:21.889 --> 00:05:28.209 other part of specialist versus General Practitioner that you need to think about is from 75 00:05:28.209 --> 00:05:33.610 the clients perspective. When you are hiring an agency and you are the director 76 00:05:33.689 --> 00:05:39.959 of communications or the VP of marketing, here's what's going on in your head. 77 00:05:40.000 --> 00:05:43.600 Your what's going on in your head is, if I get this wrong, 78 00:05:44.720 --> 00:05:46.360 I'm going to lose my job, and we know that's true. We 79 00:05:46.439 --> 00:05:53.029 see what the short tenure is of CMOS. So understand the risk that they 80 00:05:53.230 --> 00:05:58.230 take when they hire an agency. So in their mind, in many cases 81 00:05:59.230 --> 00:06:02.189 they can't afford to hire a general practitioner. They need to hire someone with 82 00:06:02.269 --> 00:06:10.620 a depth of knowledge that is some sort of a guarantee that this agency is 83 00:06:10.699 --> 00:06:13.899 going to be good at what they do, so that the client not only 84 00:06:13.939 --> 00:06:17.930 saves their job but maybe even gets a raised or a promotion. So that's 85 00:06:17.970 --> 00:06:23.850 their mindset is I need to find someone selfishly that helps me keep my job 86 00:06:24.290 --> 00:06:28.410 and helps me do my job well, and that's one of the reasons why 87 00:06:28.410 --> 00:06:32.720 specialists are so attractive. Every client believes, and you've heard them say this 88 00:06:32.920 --> 00:06:35.839 over and over and over again. Well, that may be true for this 89 00:06:36.000 --> 00:06:41.120 business or this industry, but my business is different. They all think their 90 00:06:41.240 --> 00:06:44.279 business is unique and that you have to have you have to have a special 91 00:06:44.399 --> 00:06:48.790 lens to understand their business. If you have a depth of expertise in the 92 00:06:49.069 --> 00:06:54.829 category that they work in, the audience they serve, the part of the 93 00:06:54.990 --> 00:06:58.870 country that they exist in. If you have one of those niches, all 94 00:06:58.910 --> 00:07:02.540 of a sudden they afford you credit for being able to be more helpful to 95 00:07:02.620 --> 00:07:06.420 them. So we just came out of the field in the last couple months 96 00:07:06.420 --> 00:07:12.860 with some great research. Every year Ami partners with a company called Audience Audit 97 00:07:12.980 --> 00:07:16.129 and we do well, we all the agency edge research series. So since 98 00:07:16.370 --> 00:07:19.769 two thousand and fourteen, we have gone out in the field every year and 99 00:07:19.850 --> 00:07:25.889 we have talked to people who hire agencies, CMOS, business owners, vpiece 100 00:07:25.930 --> 00:07:30.000 of marketing, and we've talked to them about different aspects of their relationship with 101 00:07:30.000 --> 00:07:33.360 agencies. And this year one of the things we talked about with over a 102 00:07:33.600 --> 00:07:40.560 thousand individuals who hire, who are actively working with agencies today, is we 103 00:07:40.720 --> 00:07:46.990 ask them about the proximity of their agency. So how close in terms of 104 00:07:46.069 --> 00:07:51.189 geography is your agency and how much does that matter? And I will tell 105 00:07:51.230 --> 00:07:58.029 you that over in some cases sixty four percent. I'm going to give you 106 00:07:58.069 --> 00:08:03.019 the numbers by by budget in a minute, but in some cases over sixty 107 00:08:03.139 --> 00:08:07.500 four percent of them said I choose an agency that is more than two hundred 108 00:08:07.540 --> 00:08:11.620 miles away and the reason I choose them is because they have a subject matter 109 00:08:11.779 --> 00:08:18.009 expertise that I value. So take this into account if you want to work 110 00:08:18.009 --> 00:08:22.889 with clients under that have a budget of under two hundred and fifty thousand dollars 111 00:08:22.889 --> 00:08:26.560 a year, only twenty three percent of those worked with agencies that were more 112 00:08:26.600 --> 00:08:31.079 than two hundred miles away. When you get to the quarter of a million 113 00:08:31.160 --> 00:08:35.159 to a million is over fifty percent of them work with agencies that are over 114 00:08:35.240 --> 00:08:41.429 two hundred miles away. A million to ten million, sixty three and ten 115 00:08:41.629 --> 00:08:46.350 million plus sixty four percent. So, depending on your agency size, depending 116 00:08:46.389 --> 00:08:50.669 on how how you're built, depending on the kind of clients that you want, 117 00:08:50.149 --> 00:08:54.549 understand that, unless you are always working with clients that have budgets of 118 00:08:54.590 --> 00:08:58.379 two hundred and fifty thousand dollars or less, most of them, at least 119 00:08:58.539 --> 00:09:05.100 half of them in every other category, choose to work with agencies that they 120 00:09:05.139 --> 00:09:09.500 cannot have facetime with in terms of were in the same room very often because 121 00:09:09.500 --> 00:09:13.169 they're two hundred miles away, because they have an expertise that they want. 122 00:09:13.690 --> 00:09:16.850 So we said, okay, well, if you're willing to tolerate a clost 123 00:09:16.850 --> 00:09:22.250 an agency relationship that has a two hundred mile or greater distance, why? 124 00:09:22.529 --> 00:09:24.279 What's what's in it for you? What's it worth it? And they said 125 00:09:24.879 --> 00:09:28.120 is because they have an expertise. And we said, okay, what kind 126 00:09:28.159 --> 00:09:33.080 of expertise, and here's what they told us. I hired my agency because 127 00:09:33.639 --> 00:09:37.870 they have one of these kinds of expertise. Number one, they have an 128 00:09:37.909 --> 00:09:41.389 expertise in a and this is not any particular order that. Number one, 129 00:09:41.429 --> 00:09:45.950 because they have an expertise in a particular geography. So, for example, 130 00:09:46.549 --> 00:09:50.350 we know the Pacific northwest better than any other agency. So if you are 131 00:09:50.350 --> 00:09:54.940 a company doing business in the Pacific northwest, we can help you reach that 132 00:09:54.980 --> 00:09:58.700 audience. Or, Hey, company in Pacific northwest, if you want to 133 00:09:58.700 --> 00:10:03.740 break out of that region and you want to share your products or service with 134 00:10:03.820 --> 00:10:07.490 the rest of the world, we can help you position yourself in a way 135 00:10:07.529 --> 00:10:11.610 to do that. The second thing they told us was we want an agency 136 00:10:11.769 --> 00:10:16.129 that is a depth of knowledge in an industry or a specific audience. So 137 00:10:16.370 --> 00:10:22.039 either you are your brilliant at egg or you understand how to reach millennial moms 138 00:10:22.080 --> 00:10:28.519 or whatever it is. So an industry or an audience, or they want 139 00:10:28.519 --> 00:10:33.679 an agency that is a depth of expertise in an ethnicity, so that you 140 00:10:33.879 --> 00:10:39.669 can work with the Hispanic population or the Asian population or some other subset of 141 00:10:41.309 --> 00:10:45.710 your country's population that they want to reach. And so they are willing to 142 00:10:45.870 --> 00:10:48.629 work with a specialist. Not only willing, they choose to work with a 143 00:10:48.710 --> 00:10:54.019 specialist because of that depth of expertise. So then we said to them, 144 00:10:54.139 --> 00:11:00.820 is it ever because they're cheaper? And only sixteen percent said they chose their 145 00:11:00.899 --> 00:11:05.970 agency that is far away from them because the local agencies were more expensive. 146 00:11:05.289 --> 00:11:09.370 This is not about money. In fact, what they told us was, 147 00:11:09.970 --> 00:11:13.169 we know we're going to pay more, but we are hiring somebody with a 148 00:11:13.370 --> 00:11:16.690 depth of expertise that is really valuable to us, so we're willing to do 149 00:11:16.850 --> 00:11:22.480 that. So the other reason why I want you to think about specializing is 150 00:11:22.240 --> 00:11:26.600 if you ever think you're going to sell your agency, one of the factors 151 00:11:26.919 --> 00:11:33.509 that influences what your agency is worth is are you a generalist or are you 152 00:11:33.590 --> 00:11:37.269 a specialist? And if you're a generalist, your agency is going to be 153 00:11:37.509 --> 00:11:41.429 worth less. So you need to understand that as well, and I'm telling 154 00:11:41.470 --> 00:11:45.909 you I see proof of this every day. Remember, not only do we 155 00:11:45.990 --> 00:11:48.220 work with two hundred and fifty agencies over the course of a year, but 156 00:11:48.340 --> 00:11:52.659 I see their financials, I see their P andl I see their balance sheets, 157 00:11:52.100 --> 00:11:58.779 and the agencies that have a specialty, the agencies that the liver some 158 00:11:58.100 --> 00:12:05.970 subject matter expertise beyond marketing. Are The agencies that are crushing the bottom line. 159 00:12:05.250 --> 00:12:09.250 They are the agencies that are growing, that are hiring more people. 160 00:12:09.129 --> 00:12:13.529 There the agencies work prospects are knocking on their door rather than them having to 161 00:12:13.570 --> 00:12:20.200 go out and chase those prospects. So I'm seeing proof every single day that 162 00:12:20.440 --> 00:12:26.000 this is a more profitable and viable way to build out your business. I 163 00:12:26.159 --> 00:12:30.110 believe in this so much that I wrote a book about it. It's called 164 00:12:30.230 --> 00:12:33.590 cell with authority and it's going to be out in the next couple months and 165 00:12:33.230 --> 00:12:37.350 it's all about how do you do this? How do you create an authority 166 00:12:37.389 --> 00:12:43.149 position for yourself and then sell from that authority position? So I know this 167 00:12:43.340 --> 00:12:48.059 works. It's worked for my agency, it works for Ami, I've seen 168 00:12:48.100 --> 00:12:52.139 it work in tons of other agencies. So I am a huge fan of 169 00:12:52.460 --> 00:12:56.139 this methodology. There are some of you out there to say I don't want 170 00:12:56.139 --> 00:13:00.490 to do it, I want to be the general practitioner, and I get 171 00:13:00.490 --> 00:13:03.049 it. I understand that there are some reasons why you would want to do 172 00:13:03.129 --> 00:13:05.970 that. You get to stay local, you don't have to travel a lot, 173 00:13:05.490 --> 00:13:09.289 you get to know your clients really well because you have a lot of 174 00:13:09.529 --> 00:13:13.480 opportunity to have face time with them if you don't have to say no because 175 00:13:13.519 --> 00:13:16.600 somebody's not in your niche or industry, and you can work with lots of 176 00:13:16.679 --> 00:13:20.919 different people. So that's both a pro and a con right. So typically 177 00:13:20.960 --> 00:13:24.519 those clients are smaller. So if you want to grow your agency, it 178 00:13:24.639 --> 00:13:28.110 means you have to have a lot of small clients. But I understand that 179 00:13:28.309 --> 00:13:31.830 for some of you that's how you want to run your agency and it's an 180 00:13:31.870 --> 00:13:37.830 absolutely fine choice to make, as long as you understand that there's a price 181 00:13:37.950 --> 00:13:41.940 to pay, and the price you pay is typically the budgets for your clients 182 00:13:41.940 --> 00:13:46.980 are going to be lower. Typically you're going to charge less for the work 183 00:13:46.019 --> 00:13:50.500 that you do. Everybody is your competitor because everybody else is also out there 184 00:13:50.539 --> 00:13:56.450 saying there are a full service integrated agency. It's hard to know everything about 185 00:13:56.450 --> 00:14:01.529 everybody. So if you are the general practitioner, you have to understand every 186 00:14:01.690 --> 00:14:05.929 business out there that is under your roof in terms of clients. So that's 187 00:14:05.929 --> 00:14:09.679 a much bigger struggle in terms of keeping your team educated and keeping yourself educated. 188 00:14:11.559 --> 00:14:13.879 Sometimes it makes the stories you tell the case studies and things like that 189 00:14:15.480 --> 00:14:20.000 more complicated because you are serving the butcher and the baker and the candlestick maker 190 00:14:20.360 --> 00:14:22.759 and the case study for the butcher doesn't really apply to the candlestick maker. 191 00:14:24.120 --> 00:14:30.470 So sometimes the clarity of your story is challenging to tell and and it's also 192 00:14:30.549 --> 00:14:35.029 difficult, more difficult to go find more clients because they're everywhere. So if 193 00:14:35.070 --> 00:14:39.980 I am an egg agency, I know there are three or four trade shows 194 00:14:41.340 --> 00:14:45.940 and there are a couple associations and there are some key industries within the egg 195 00:14:46.019 --> 00:14:50.700 industry that I need to focus on to get more clients. If you are 196 00:14:50.740 --> 00:14:54.730 a generalist, it is everybody in anybody. So it's difficult to narrow that 197 00:14:54.889 --> 00:14:58.809 list. But it is a choice and as the owner of the business, 198 00:14:58.850 --> 00:15:03.370 you have every right to make that choice, as long as you make it 199 00:15:03.690 --> 00:15:07.480 from an educated point of view. Right. It is not a fact or 200 00:15:07.519 --> 00:15:11.799 a sentence you must serve to be a specialist. It is a choice. 201 00:15:11.840 --> 00:15:16.840 I believe it is a better, more profitable, easier choice, but that 202 00:15:16.960 --> 00:15:20.320 doesn't mean it's the only choice and you certainly can choose not to narrow your 203 00:15:20.360 --> 00:15:24.669 focus. So when you do narrow your focus, let's say you are not 204 00:15:24.830 --> 00:15:28.990 someone who wants to be a general practitioner. What it does is it's simplifies 205 00:15:28.269 --> 00:15:33.950 and magnifies all kinds of key variables. It simplifies your content. Now you're 206 00:15:33.990 --> 00:15:39.259 writing for one audience and one industry or one region, whatever it may be. 207 00:15:39.779 --> 00:15:43.139 It simplifies finding employees, because you're looking for people who have experience and 208 00:15:43.220 --> 00:15:50.090 expertise in the industries that your agency serves. It's simplifies your Biz Dev Strategy 209 00:15:50.250 --> 00:15:54.370 and the targets that you go after. It also simplifies what trade show should 210 00:15:54.370 --> 00:15:56.889 I go to? What awards should we apply to? So there's all kinds 211 00:15:56.929 --> 00:16:02.570 of things that get easier when you're a specialist. It also allows you to 212 00:16:02.690 --> 00:16:07.480 raise your prices, because we all know that a specialist is worth more than 213 00:16:07.519 --> 00:16:11.720 a general practitioner. So what happens next? How do you do that? 214 00:16:11.960 --> 00:16:15.919 How do you figure out what you're positioning is? How do you figure out 215 00:16:15.559 --> 00:16:19.990 what your niches are? I am a huge advocate of saying, you know 216 00:16:21.110 --> 00:16:25.230 what, it is very healthy for an agency to not sit on a one 217 00:16:25.230 --> 00:16:29.230 legged stool. That is a very uncomfortable stool to sit on. Somebody knocks 218 00:16:29.269 --> 00:16:32.149 that leg out of the stool, you go down to the ground. So 219 00:16:32.899 --> 00:16:37.259 I advocate that agencies have a couple areas of specialty and that ideally they're connected 220 00:16:37.700 --> 00:16:44.419 in some way. There's some connective tissue that stabilizes the stool in case of 221 00:16:45.059 --> 00:16:48.570 an economic downturn or a scandal in the industry or whatever it may be. 222 00:16:49.370 --> 00:16:53.129 Your job is to have. So a three legged stool would be two areas 223 00:16:53.169 --> 00:16:59.009 of expertise or specialty and again, hopefully they're connected in some way. So 224 00:16:59.129 --> 00:17:03.360 maybe it's an audience and maybe it's an industry that that audience is often found 225 00:17:03.399 --> 00:17:04.680 in. And then the third leg year stool is going to be what I 226 00:17:04.720 --> 00:17:08.359 call the junct or. So those are all the clients that you've had for 227 00:17:08.480 --> 00:17:12.920 years that don't fit into either of your areas of specialty, but they're profitable, 228 00:17:14.519 --> 00:17:18.109 they work, you can do good work. Or maybe somebody comes and 229 00:17:18.190 --> 00:17:21.190 knocks on your door and says, Hey, I have a big bag of 230 00:17:21.230 --> 00:17:25.470 money, I know that you are a specialist in Agg but I'm a manufacturing 231 00:17:25.509 --> 00:17:27.710 company and you know what, I'd like to hire you. Okay, if 232 00:17:27.789 --> 00:17:33.380 you can service that business until you build up enough strengthen both legs. So 233 00:17:33.539 --> 00:17:37.539 that's a temporary okay. There's a period of time when it's fine to take 234 00:17:37.660 --> 00:17:42.059 clients that are outside your area of expertise, but at a certain point, 235 00:17:42.059 --> 00:17:47.970 as you've built up the volume of clients that you have inside your expertise, 236 00:17:48.410 --> 00:17:52.569 the ideal scenario would be to say to that client, that prospect with the 237 00:17:52.690 --> 00:17:57.410 big bag of money, actually we only work with egg clients or audiences that 238 00:17:57.599 --> 00:18:03.279 serve, you know, family businesses, because a lot of egg businesses are 239 00:18:03.319 --> 00:18:07.200 family businesses. So there's my connective tissue. So, since you're a manufacturing 240 00:18:07.279 --> 00:18:10.279 company and you don't fit that criteria, I'm sorry, but we're not the 241 00:18:10.319 --> 00:18:12.390 right fit for you. But I'd like to introduce you to a friend of 242 00:18:12.470 --> 00:18:15.670 mine who owns an agency who would be a great fit for you. That's 243 00:18:15.710 --> 00:18:19.190 the ideal scenario right, but it takes a while to build that up. 244 00:18:19.589 --> 00:18:22.349 So if you're going to do what I call the UN psycho method, which 245 00:18:22.349 --> 00:18:26.710 means you're going to sit on that one legged stool, then I want you 246 00:18:26.140 --> 00:18:30.779 to mitigate your risk. So maybe it's a geography rather than an industry, 247 00:18:32.619 --> 00:18:34.420 whether it is the audience that you serve, it's got to be a broad 248 00:18:34.420 --> 00:18:37.140 enough audience. So an audience, for example, they are always going to 249 00:18:37.180 --> 00:18:44.369 be millennial MOMS. So no recession is going to impact that. Knows Industry. 250 00:18:44.410 --> 00:18:48.849 Scandal is going to impact that industry is much harder to niche two to 251 00:18:48.049 --> 00:18:52.130 one industry. Certainly we have agencies within the AMI family that do that, 252 00:18:52.730 --> 00:18:56.440 but I'm much more comfortable with them sitting on a three legged stool. But 253 00:18:56.519 --> 00:19:00.839 if you're going to do geography or audience it's okay to be on a onelegged 254 00:19:00.920 --> 00:19:04.200 stool because those things are not you know, the Pacific northwest isn't going anywhere, 255 00:19:04.480 --> 00:19:08.279 so you can always have a depth of expertise in that. The Millennium 256 00:19:08.319 --> 00:19:12.150 moms again not going anywhere. You could also have a depth of expertise in 257 00:19:12.230 --> 00:19:18.750 a methodology. I've got an agency inside one of our peer networks that they 258 00:19:18.150 --> 00:19:22.549 only work with challenger brands. So that's a methodology they have that helps those 259 00:19:22.589 --> 00:19:27.500 challenger brands take on the big gorilla in their industry. So, whether it 260 00:19:27.660 --> 00:19:32.740 is a three legged stool or a unicycle kind of stool with a one leg, 261 00:19:33.180 --> 00:19:34.859 how do you do it? Well, first of all you start looking 262 00:19:34.859 --> 00:19:41.329 for clues. You start thinking about how you are already more specialized than you 263 00:19:41.490 --> 00:19:45.170 think because honestly, a lot of you have our three force of the way 264 00:19:45.210 --> 00:19:49.009 they're you just haven't taken the final step of committing on the website, in 265 00:19:49.089 --> 00:19:57.000 your content, in your business prospecting targets. You haven't fully committed to the 266 00:19:57.119 --> 00:20:02.440 niche or the industry or the audience. But your you kind of know. 267 00:20:02.680 --> 00:20:03.880 There's there's this in the back of your head. You sort of know. 268 00:20:04.000 --> 00:20:07.630 So you start looking for clues. So here's what you do. You start 269 00:20:07.630 --> 00:20:10.549 with what you've already done. Look at your body of work, because those 270 00:20:10.589 --> 00:20:15.430 are proof points that you already know that industry or that audience or that geography. 271 00:20:15.029 --> 00:20:19.630 Look at yours and your team's expertise and already what? What have you 272 00:20:19.710 --> 00:20:25.259 already done, either at this agency or at other agencies or at other jobs? 273 00:20:25.900 --> 00:20:29.619 What is the market place need? Obviously it doesn't help you if you 274 00:20:29.740 --> 00:20:33.019 try to sell something that nobody wants to buy. And also, what is 275 00:20:33.059 --> 00:20:36.609 the competitive landscape if there are a ton of agencies? So, for example, 276 00:20:36.650 --> 00:20:38.450 if you tell me your niches healthcare, I'm going to tell you that 277 00:20:38.609 --> 00:20:42.170 is not a niche. Every agency I know has some sort of healthcare client. 278 00:20:42.289 --> 00:20:45.809 They have a hospital, they have a doc in a box, they 279 00:20:45.849 --> 00:20:49.359 have a farmer client, they have a medical device. That's way too broad 280 00:20:49.519 --> 00:20:55.200 to be a specialty. You could tell me that you specialize in rural health 281 00:20:55.279 --> 00:20:59.160 systems. That's a great specialty and there aren't a lot of competitors in that 282 00:20:59.279 --> 00:21:03.240 space. So the competitive landscape, if there are a ton of agencies that 283 00:21:03.440 --> 00:21:06.309 say they do the same thing, what it means is you haven't gotten narrow 284 00:21:06.309 --> 00:21:11.630 enough to actually define an industry specialty and then also look at what's profitable. 285 00:21:11.789 --> 00:21:15.430 So is the work agi heavy? So are you going to keep most of 286 00:21:15.589 --> 00:21:18.180 the money that you charge a client? Is there a consistent need? So, 287 00:21:18.339 --> 00:21:22.460 for example, if you're an agency that does a lot of brand work, 288 00:21:22.539 --> 00:21:26.220 you know that once you develop a brand for a client, typically you 289 00:21:26.339 --> 00:21:29.779 have to go find another client that needs a brand, as opposed to a 290 00:21:29.819 --> 00:21:33.970 lead GEN agency. Well, every client always needs more leads. So that's 291 00:21:33.089 --> 00:21:40.450 this ongoing, consistent need. Are Employees that have knowledge in this industry or 292 00:21:40.690 --> 00:21:45.809 audience or deliverable? Are they findable and are they trainable if they're not findable? 293 00:21:45.890 --> 00:21:48.880 So is this something I can teach or is this something I can hire? 294 00:21:49.480 --> 00:21:55.119 And are there enough of them, meaning clients out there, prospects that 295 00:21:55.480 --> 00:22:00.720 you can absolutely build your business around them. And keep in mind you don't 296 00:22:00.720 --> 00:22:03.470 want a thousand clients. So you don't have to have that many in an 297 00:22:03.509 --> 00:22:07.509 industry or a niche or an audience to make it a viable specialty for you. 298 00:22:08.230 --> 00:22:11.069 And then you also have to think about what's palatable. So we talked 299 00:22:11.069 --> 00:22:15.779 about what's possible, we talked about what's profitable, but you also need to 300 00:22:15.900 --> 00:22:18.900 think about what's palatable, because this is your business and you're going to be 301 00:22:18.940 --> 00:22:22.460 spending eight, ten, twelve hours a day doing this for a really long 302 00:22:22.500 --> 00:22:26.819 time. So don't pick something that you hate. Pick something. It's got 303 00:22:26.900 --> 00:22:30.809 to be work that you love to do. So if you love learning more 304 00:22:30.890 --> 00:22:33.769 about this audience, this millennium mom audience, and how to influence them, 305 00:22:34.009 --> 00:22:37.769 great. If that is not something that interests you, then find a different 306 00:22:37.809 --> 00:22:44.130 specialty. Can you find the clients that you best serve in terms of size 307 00:22:44.250 --> 00:22:48.559 and temperament and all of that in this industry or a niche? Will it 308 00:22:48.640 --> 00:22:52.640 allow you to do work that you're proud to do? And is this sustainable? 309 00:22:52.640 --> 00:22:55.839 You don't want to have to keep doing this exercise. So don't pick 310 00:22:55.960 --> 00:22:59.670 something that you think is going to be around for three years or five years, 311 00:22:59.750 --> 00:23:03.630 whether it's an industry or an audience or a geography, and then it's 312 00:23:03.630 --> 00:23:07.589 going to become irrelevant. Pick something that's very evergreen, and then what I 313 00:23:07.670 --> 00:23:12.299 want you to do is, once you've decided that, now go and find 314 00:23:12.380 --> 00:23:18.500 the right prospects, only, only, only chase the prospects that check the 315 00:23:18.579 --> 00:23:22.660 boxes, that fill in the blanks, that are going to help you be 316 00:23:22.940 --> 00:23:29.289 better or more accomplished at that area of specialty. So don't chase after everybody 317 00:23:29.329 --> 00:23:33.250 and anybody. Be Very specific and precise about who you chase after. The 318 00:23:33.329 --> 00:23:37.049 other thing I want you to do is stop chasing after the little guys. 319 00:23:37.970 --> 00:23:44.240 Do not expend any effort prospecting for any client that is smaller than ten percent 320 00:23:44.400 --> 00:23:49.400 of your annual Agi. Do not waste your time and effort on small clients, 321 00:23:49.920 --> 00:23:55.559 because they are the devil to positioning. You want big clients that you 322 00:23:55.680 --> 00:23:57.750 can name drop, that you can say, Yep, we are an agency 323 00:23:57.829 --> 00:24:02.950 that only does manufacturing and we work with these five brands and at least three 324 00:24:02.990 --> 00:24:04.869 of those brands people are going to go, Oh, I recognize that, 325 00:24:06.150 --> 00:24:10.019 oh I recognize that, because at that what that does is it escalates and 326 00:24:10.180 --> 00:24:15.420 elevates your expertise, and your job is, if you haven't already gotten experience 327 00:24:15.500 --> 00:24:18.940 in that industry as quickly as you can, get your foot in the door 328 00:24:19.299 --> 00:24:23.490 so you have some proof points to prove that you do understand your specialty. 329 00:24:23.529 --> 00:24:27.769 All right, final steps. You got to decide. Are you really going 330 00:24:27.809 --> 00:24:32.210 to do this? You know, it's not like you cannot be sort of 331 00:24:32.329 --> 00:24:36.369 pregnant right, same thing. You either are specialist you're a generalist. You 332 00:24:36.490 --> 00:24:40.279 have to make a decision and you have to make a commitment so that you 333 00:24:40.559 --> 00:24:45.240 can expend all of your efforts in either direction. And again, both of 334 00:24:45.319 --> 00:24:49.599 them are viable choices. Regardless of what you choose, you need to check 335 00:24:49.680 --> 00:24:53.829 to make sure your language, your elevator speech, your website, your content, 336 00:24:55.109 --> 00:25:00.269 all scream what you've decided. If you are a specialist, I do 337 00:25:00.349 --> 00:25:03.470 not want to see any generalist content on your website ever again. Do not 338 00:25:03.630 --> 00:25:08.500 do a blog post about the new pantone color doesn't matter. But you're talking 339 00:25:08.539 --> 00:25:14.619 about egg marketing, Egg Marketing, the egg industry, Egg Marketing, tractor 340 00:25:14.700 --> 00:25:19.380 marketing, seed marketing, anything related to that industry, how family businesses are 341 00:25:19.380 --> 00:25:23.130 impacting agg all of those sort of things. All of those speak to your 342 00:25:23.170 --> 00:25:30.289 depth of expertise. Right. So be really, really judicious about the language 343 00:25:30.289 --> 00:25:34.329 you use around Your Business and then establish your authority position, be a thought 344 00:25:34.369 --> 00:25:40.160 leader, create content that is meaty, that is teaching the industry something, 345 00:25:40.559 --> 00:25:45.799 and then sell from that position of authority. And finally, stop chasing anything 346 00:25:45.880 --> 00:25:51.470 that doesn't fit. So if they are not in your specialty area, do 347 00:25:51.750 --> 00:25:55.670 not chase them. I know that this is difficult, I know that this 348 00:25:55.789 --> 00:26:00.470 is scary, but I also know that this is wildly profitable for the agencies 349 00:26:00.509 --> 00:26:03.660 that have been brave enough to do it. And the worst position of all 350 00:26:04.019 --> 00:26:08.059 is straddling the fence. So it is time for you to decide. Are 351 00:26:08.140 --> 00:26:11.700 you going to be a generalist or a specialist? Both of them are viable 352 00:26:11.779 --> 00:26:17.619 choices, but stop dancing on the line and trying to be both. Okay, 353 00:26:18.099 --> 00:26:21.210 hopefully this got you fired up. Hopefully this guy you thinking a little 354 00:26:21.210 --> 00:26:25.769 bit. If you are interested in what am I does, head over to 355 00:26:25.849 --> 00:26:30.250 agency Management Institutecom. We are happy to engage with you there. Feel free 356 00:26:30.289 --> 00:26:34.160 to start listening to build a better agency PODCAST. Hopefully you will find that 357 00:26:34.319 --> 00:26:41.000 helpful as well. But my message to you today is decide generalist or specialist. 358 00:26:41.359 --> 00:26:47.789 Both find choices with different pros and cons, but stop crossing over the 359 00:26:47.910 --> 00:26:51.509 line back and forth, which is what most agencies are doing today. All 360 00:26:51.509 --> 00:26:55.109 Right, thanks again for listening, thanks again to the crew at me to 361 00:26:55.150 --> 00:26:57.150 be growth, for inviting me to do this, and I will be back 362 00:26:57.470 --> 00:27:03.980 with another episode soon. Talk to you soon. We totally get it. 363 00:27:04.380 --> 00:27:08.019 We publish a ton of content on this podcast and it can be a lot 364 00:27:08.140 --> 00:27:11.900 to keep up with. That's why we've started the BOB growth big three, 365 00:27:12.339 --> 00:27:17.849 a no fluff email that wolves down our three biggest takeaways from an entire week 366 00:27:17.890 --> 00:27:22.569 of episodes. Sign up today at Sweet Phish Mediacom Big Three. That sweet 367 00:27:22.569 --> 00:27:26.410 PHISH MEDIACOM Big Three