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How to Simplify Your Business & Maximize Performance with Joe Calloway

Keep it simple. Sounds easy, right? Not so much. It’s one of those things that’s so much easier said than done. But until you begin to simplify your business, as well as the way you think about your business, it’s really difficult to maximize your performance.   Simplicity is the common thread that runs through my podcast guest Joe Calloway’s life. His newest book “Keep It Simple” has seven simple truths that he invites readers to follow and embrace if they want to take their business to the next level. As Joe says, “If you can make things simple, you can move mountains.” Follow along with Joe and I as we uncover: Why Joe wrote “Keep It Simple” and how it’s different from his other books What all effective leaders have in common What your vision/mission statement should sound like Why you need to follow Warren Buffett’s advice and say no to almost everything The Gold Standard: doing what you say you will do, the way you said you will do it, when you said you would do it Why you have to set the example inside your business Why you can’t get stuck doing what used to work Being better tomorrow than you are today How to simplify your business and why it maximizes your team’s performance Why you need to be so good at the basics that you are cutting edge Why you need to work on the relationships with everyone you work with Being your authentic self and believing in yourself Why — whatever happens — that’s normal Improving upon your strengths Why your success is dictated by your culture Why you need to get clear on the three things you need [...]

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How to Use Public Speaking to Strategically Grow Your Business with Tamsen Webster

Public speaking is the number one fear in America. Death is number two. From sweaty palms to cracking voices, speaking in public can be terrifying, yet it is a crucial skill to have in the agency world. As agency owners, our speaking skills are in the spotlight, be it in presentations, pitches, at conferences or just in front of your kid’s school. No matter how many people you’re in front of or how long you have to talk – every presentation matters. Tamsen Webster believes passionately in the power of human-to-human communication and has made it her life’s work to see to it that you become a better speaker. She coaches TedTalk speakers, business leaders and teams on how to get the audience to focus and relate to your ideas and feel connected to you in the process. Join Tamsen and I as we flesh out how to use presentations and speeches in a strategic way to grow your business. We cover:   Why speaking is the best tool for convincing someone that your agency is the best agency for them Why you need to make your speeches about your audience and not about you Mistakes that agencies make in pitches all the time How to structure your new business presentations so that you win the business Why you want people to remember the one big idea of your presentation — not specific tactics How to develop a thought leadership presentation Why niched presentations are a lot more effective than broad ones “Why,” “what now,” and “how” talks: what’s different about these kind of presentations How to structure a talk when you are given a general topic that you have to speak on Why you should stop before [...]

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Why Who You Spend Time with is Critical to Your Success

"We are the average of the five people that we hang out with the most." Jim Rohn is famous for making that statement and I believe he was absolutely right. But most business leaders won’t take the time to be thoughtful about the people they surround themselves with and I think that’s short-sighted. Who are you hanging out with? What does your average look like? Determining who your posse is says a lot about you but it also says a lot about where you’re going. The people that inspire you, challenge you, teach you, celebrate you, call you out, push you and fill you with joy are the people we’re going to be talking about in this solocast, so join me and discover: Why I absolutely believe Jim Rohn’s famous adage that we are the average of the five people we spend the most time with Why you should go back and take a look at the one page life plan I outlined in episode 10 Spending time with the people who inspire you to commit to excellence in every aspect of your life Spending time with the people you learn from that challenge you to think in different ways Spending time with people that you can teach Hanging out with people who see you more clearly than you see yourself Spending time with people who will call you out when you need to be called out Having people in your life that make you push harder than you would on your own Spending time with the people that fill you with joy Drew McLellan is the Top Dog at Agency Management Institute. For the past 21 years, he has also owned and operated his own [...]

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The Power of Social Selling and Making Connections for Your Business with Phil Gerbyshak

My podcast guest Phil Gerbyshak is the walking, talking definition of a social connection. Phil takes great delight and is a master at using all things social to help businesses gain that next great client by making authentic connections.        For Phil, it’s not that Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn are the end all and be all of social tools but instead Phil’s focus is on using the social tool of your choice to get to know and connect with your peers, clients and the world around you. By being valuable and by sharing what you know, you open up the door for opportunity.   We had a great conversation about social selling and what that can mean for agencies today: Social selling: getting people to convert for you Making a connection with someone online (this isn’t a follow or a like) Why keyword targeting isn’t necessarily the best path to success Why Phil actively connects people he thinks should know about each other How Phil uses LinkedIn as a powerful sales and research tool Why you have to share content that isn’t your own Why you should congratulate your competition — and why you need to be genuine about it Phil’s strategy for creating content people need and starting conversations Cultivating and leveraging testimonials How to use your pinned post wisely Things you can do right now to start putting into practice the ideas from this episode Phil’s podcast “Conversations with Phil” Phil Gerbyshak is a speaker and a trainer, who delivers programs on the power of technology, social selling and connection. With a unique speaking style—part technology and sales expert, part entertainer—Phil keeps his audiences awake and engaged while providing micro-tactics to help you [...]

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How to Utilize Innovation Initiatives to Inspire Your Clients and Your Team with Kris Hoet

In the research that AMI does every year, one of the things we hear is that clients are looking for agencies that can bring them fresh concepts, big ideas and innovative solutions. So, what do these kinds of innovation initiatives look like and how do agency owners inspire that kind of thinking inside their shop? My podcast guest Kris Hoet owns the international agency Happiness and is a master of innovation. He loves the idea of messy experimentation and really collaborating with clients on projects rather than following the same old templates over and over again. He’s been on both the client side and the agency side and sees how much good can come when you infuse your agency with collaborative, out of the box thinking.   Come along as Kris and I lay out a plan to help you inspire your team for this kind of action by learning:    Why Kris made the jump to the agency side — and why he started his own agency Innovation initiatives and driving change in every aspect of a company Why small changes across a company are better than one big change Getting ideas for change from other industries Some feeds that Kris follows to get inspiration Finding the time to focus on innovation and learning for learning’s sake while also running a client-driven profitable business Why everybody needs to be involved in an initiative Working in a messy way with these innovation initiatives and why that demands more trust between agency and client Why you can do this with your employees you have (if they’re actual good employees) How to inspire your team to want to innovate How to get innovation started Kris Hoet has [...]

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How to Streamline Business Processes and Improve Workflow Efficiency with Chris Wilson

A lot of agencies want to grow and scale but it really gets to be a problem when they lack the proper workflow and systems and are unsure how to streamline business processes. Agency owners can sometimes need help learning how to manage workflow in office. Many agency owners bristle when they hear these words but without a shared workflow process, it is impossible to deliver quality or consistency throughout your entire agency.   This often shows up as: A constant cash flow crunch and you don't know why Not knowing if a project is profitable or worse, if a client is profitable A stressed staff who keeps re-inventing the wheel Everyone has their own way of getting work through the agency These can all be warning signs that perhaps your workflow could use some improvement. Chris Wilson helps agencies of all sizes address their workflow issues so they can move forward, scale and grow. He has an extensive understanding of the operation, management and workflow processes of agencies.   Chris joins me on Build A Better Agency and we talk systems and workflow.  I promise, it’s better than it sounds! We cover: The typical reasons that agencies decide they need to get better systems in place What Chris’ company Function Point does Mistakes that agencies make when it comes to starting to think about workflow and using a tool like Function Point How to figure out if your workflow process needs improving How to streamline business processes and workflow within your agency Why workflow allows people to put their brain flow in the right place Why systems have to be easy to use Why timesheets are absolutely necessary and why agency owners can’t be exempt from [...]

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The Importance of Managing Your Online Reputation with Daniel Lemin

“There’s a hair in my soup.”   Not the kind of review that any business owner wants to hear.  Worse – to have it broadcast to other potential customers all over the web. But that’s exactly what is happening with the rise of Yelp, Citysearch, Google reviews and a million other sites out there. The impact and power of online ratings and reviews is not going away, meaning the importance of managing your online reputation is more important than ever. It’s only going to get more pervasive and more influential as we move forward. The good news is that this is a great opportunity for agencies to step in and help business owners manage and maintain those online reputations. Daniel Lemin is my podcast guest and he has seen the evolution of online ratings and reviews. He believes there is vast potential for agencies to provide strategy and counsel to their clients, all while making it very profitable for the agency. Daniel and I walk through the strategies that your agency can put into place to help your current and future clients tackle this issue by learning: The importance of managing your online reputation Why online reputation work is such a great opportunity for agencies How Daniel got into online reputation work and how came to write “Manipurated” What makes this kind of work more profitable for agencies than SEO work Tools that are great for this kind of work Why every person inside an agency needs to be good at this — and why Daniel advises against having a dedicated team that does only this kind of work How agencies can price this kind of work out What agencies can do to get B2B [...]

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How to Embrace Change as a Small Business Owner in Today’s World

The only constant in life is change, and man, does that apply to our world and agency life. The truth is – it’s not going to suddenly get easier, slower or less jarring.  If anything, it’s just going to get a little quicker. So buckle up. I have been in a unique position, because of my work with hundreds of agencies, to see these changes firsthand and want to share with you where I think our industry is headed. Our customers today aren’t just looking for someone to manage an ad campaign or make a media buy, they are looking for partners. Strategic partners who get business. While most of the “stuff” that we create can be commoditized, what makes us different and what can’t be commoditized is our ability to think strategically. The game has changed and agencies that are able to successfully partner with their customers beyond marketing and delve into the sales and customer service arenas are the ones that are succeeding. Learn how your agency can embrace change and succeed in these arenas by answering: Why the speed of change is the new normal and why you have to embrace that How what agencies sell has changed from the Mad Men days to today Why you need to tie marketing, sales, and customer service together to be a great agency today Why data analysis is more important than it ever has been Leads, sales, and retention: why you need to focus on these at a much higher level if you want to keep charging a premium price The importance of making real time decisions and adapting based on data Why we need to work with clients who may be resistant to [...]

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Systemizing Your Agency Using Documented Processes with Andrew Dymski

“We were kind of just flying by the seat of our pants, to be honest. We weren't operating off of a tight scope. We were just out there creating stuff that we knew we should be making, but there was no structure or order to it at all. We aren’t sure how to streamline processes at work.”   Sound familiar?   That sounds like an agency in need of some processes and systems. My podcast guest Andrew Dymski was describing his own agency in the quote above. Fortunately, he realized that they had to stop reinventing the wheel with every new project or client. What he discovered is that by creating documented processes for each step of the client journey, they were able to become more focused and much more profitable. So many agencies know they need to systematize their agency but it’s a daunting task so the excuses are easier. As Andrew put it during our conversation, “you’ve got to put a firm date on the calendar when you're going to step back, pop the hood, and look at the agency and the way it's running.” Follow Andrew and I on his journey down the process and systemizing your agency rabbit hole and how his agency came out on the other side:   How Andrew and his business partner Gray MacKenzie started their agency while they were still in college and the transformation that GuavaBox has undergone since then How Michael Gerber’s “The E Myth” transformed how Andrew’s agency was ran Using blogging as a method for separating yourself Why clients will leave if communication is poor — even when you’re doing great work DoInbound: a tool for creating templates that power the delivery of services just [...]

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Solving Business Challenges by Understanding the Rapidly-Changing Global Landscape with Greg Verdino

“We are used to thinking about change in an incremental fashion when in reality, change is happening at an exponential rate.” So says my podcast guest Greg Verdino and he should know. He’s been at the forefront of most of the changes in our industry and is one of the best at solving business challenges that arise from an ever-changing global landscape. From the beginnings of social media (when he was one of only 23 bloggers out there) to today’s blur between the physical and digital, Greg knows about the changes that are happening and more important, what is coming next.   Greg and his wife Amanda (Verdino & Co.) are a small niche agency that focuses solely on content. They are constantly evolving and staying a step ahead of their clients and their client’s needs so that they can continue to be of value to their clients. We had a great conversation on how agencies can see the forest for the trees and discover: What has changed since the beginning days of when agencies began to do social Why content needs to expand past “content marketing” and must be infused into every single interaction inside and outside your organization How to help clients understand the value of content Solving the business challenges that arise from a changing landscape The importance of analytics and content metrics that Greg uses with clients Why Greg and his wife decided to go it on their own instead of taking positions inside other agencies How Greg differentiates his agency from other agencies How Greg has been able to recognize trends that matter and ignore the ones that fade Tips and tricks for getting everything done that you want as [...]

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5 Mistakes that cost agency owners money.

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