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
