I’m super excited (also relieved, fatigued and so over it as anyone who has written a book will tell you) to introduce you to my latest book, which I wrote with agency owner and AMI member Stephen Woessner called Sell With Authority. The premise of the book is simple — it’s written exclusively for agencies and acknowledges that if your agency’s future is tied to making stuff, then you’re destined to be on a perpetual financial roller coaster. Someone will always make stuff less expensively than you can. We’re entering the era of the authority. While you may already be sick of the phrase thought leader, the truth is there aren’t that many of them in our industry. Thought leaders don’t write content that any other agency could claim. Thought leaders don’t write about anything and everything and thought leaders don’t compete on price. And their time is now. Experts are afforded the highest level of confidence and trust because they have a depth of knowledge that can’t be denied or easily replicated. Why wouldn’t we capitalize on that, as opposed to writing generic marketing tip posts that look like every other agency’s content? Agencies are at the cusp of a huge shift, and if you take full advantage now, you’re going to be tough to catch. You can own an authority position that will future-proof your agency. You’re going to be hearing more about some incredible research data that delivers proof that our  clients are seeking an agency with a deep expertise and when they find one — their relationship lasts longer and is more fruitful for both parties. The question is — are you ready to see your agency through this lens? Are [...]

I am a huge fan of doing one on ones with your team member.s. I outlined the strategy and benefits in an early podcast that might be worth a listen. The very first question that should be covered in every one on one is what is your quarterly growth goal and how are you going to accomplish it? It’s a powerful way for your employees to feel as though you are investing in their growth and care about helping them carve out their career path. From your leadership perspective, it gives you the opportunity to add new skills and knowledge to the team and to help your employees understand that they have to keep getting better — no matter how long they’ve been in the business. That, my friend, also applies to you. Many of us have been in the agency business for our entire careers and that probably means decades, not days. What are your growth goals? One of the patterns I see among the AMI agencies is that the most profitable agencies have leaders who still love to learn and set some impressive goals for themselves. No matter how long they’ve been doing this work. They take classes to improve their presentation skills. They get google certified so they can talk more intelligently. They surround themselves with other owners to learn about best practices, hacks, and industry trends. It’s incredibly easy to get stale in our world. It’s our job to stay relevant and it’s tough to do if we are not experimenting and evolving along the way. If you want your employees to keep evolving so they add more value — set the example and show them how its done. It will [...]

Every spring, I put together a list of trends that I think agency owners need to be tracking.  I present this content at the spring meetings of the AMI owner peer groups and then later in the summer/fall, I share the trends with my podcast audience (2019 part one and two).  I just finished the deck last week and presented it for the first time today. One of the trends that we talked about that has really gathered steam is the idea of embedding an agency employee into the client’s work environment.  Many agencies initially offered it to keep a client from taking work in-house but what they’ve discovered is that it’s an amazing biz dev strategy.  Remember that 60-70% of your new business goal should come from existing clients and this is a smart way to trigger some of that growth. I don’t have one agency in my world that has an embedded employee that isn’t reporting client growth, new opportunities with other divisions within the company and a strengthening of the relationship.  It’s definitely a winning strategy for the agencies that have implemented it. Now that I’ve had a year of studying it from afar, I have some thoughts on best practices around this growing trend.  It is not without its pitfalls, if you make some wrong turns. This is a premium product — having your AE on site in their environment so price it accordingly. Think long and hard about who you choose to embed. It’s easy for them to begin to feel more like your client’s employee than the agency’s employee.  You want someone who is very committed to the agency’s success. Do you allow them to work onsite at the [...]

I am wrapping up two weeks of workshops and I am so gratified that AMI gets to offer these educational experiences. Yes, I love that we help agency owners and leaders get smarter and succeed faster but what I love even more is the energy that happens when agency people are together. It’s such a relief to be in a room where people have actually walked a mile in your shoes. An attendee asked me, “what do you enjoy most about these workshops?” and my honest answer was — “I love watching the connections happen. It’s wonderful to watch people discover they’re among their own kind.” This can be an insular business. We hold our cards close to the vest, we don’t talk about our struggles and we wonder if we’re the only agency struggling with the issues that plague us. Being with people who understand your world is good medicine. It’s invigorating and inspiring. And for many agency owners, it re-fills your energy bucket for a long time. Everyone left the workshops with a notebook full of new ideas (and a few stop doing items) and a little more pep in their step because they’d learned and laughed together about their shared reality. Whether it’s AMI or some other resource — don’t go on your own. Surround yourself with people who not only understand your world but want to actively participate in your success. You will learn more and have a posse of people who will celebrate your wins, commiserate with you on the tough days and be the first ones to offer help when you hit a challenge.   This was originally published in the weekly AMI newsletter.  To subscribe, click here.

If you're going into business with someone, the best thing you can do for yourself, your agency and your partner is to establish an agency partnership agreement. This document details each person's respective role, expectations for the partnership, how finances will be handled and more. In this piece I recently contributed to Forbes.com, I discuss how you can save yourself lots of time, money and headaches in creating agency partnerships in the future.

Partnership agreements document important terms so you know how to resolve disputes as they arise or, in a worst-case scenario, dissolve the partnership. When forming the agreement, make sure to include these three sections: roles and responsibilities, partnership authority, and conflict resolution. In this piece I recently contributed to MediaPost.com, I discuss how to make sure to include these three sections: roles and responsibilities, partnership authority, and conflict resolution when forming an agreement.

How long someone works doesn't determine performance or success. Rather, focusing on this metric will cause the quality of work to decrease. Marketing professionals need to take time to think, create, and ideate, and their work will be better for it. In this piece I recently contributed to Mediapost.com, I discuss how can individuals focus on outcomes and make space for creativity.

There's no better time to buy an agency. Are you ready? In this piece I recently contributed to Entrepreneur.com I discuss the five biggest mistakes you could make and how to avoid them when buying an ad agency.