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What if you got paid to be a thought leader?

We’re all blogging, writing newsletters, trying to speak at conferences, etc. We’ve got content coming out of our ears but content does not equal thought leadership. If you and 1,000 other agencies all blogged about the new Pantone color of the year — that’s content, not thought leadership. No one is going to pay you to create that. But genuine thought leadership that makes me better at my job? Now that you can get paid for! Think about how much more motivated you and your team would be if your content actually made you money and helped your clients as well. Check out an article I wrote about thought leadership and the fine line we walk to get it right.  As always, I'd love to hear your thoughts. This was originally published in the AMI weekly newsletter.  To subscribe, click here.

February 24th, 2020|

Agencies should sell with authority with Stephen Woessner

[easy-social-share buttons=”facebook,twitter,google,linkedin,mail” counters=1 counter_pos=”topm” total_counter_pos=”leftbig” style=”icon_hover”] I have long preached the concept of being a specialist versus a generalist to my audience, so it should come as no surprise to you that along with my co-author Stephen Woessner, CEO of Predictive ROI, I have just written a book on the subject. […]

February 24th, 2020|

Optimizing your Linkedin Profile

Over the past few years, LinkedIn has emerged as the go-to social network for anyone operating in the B2B space. If you are an agency, then your clients are certainly active on LinkedIn. But where do you start? The first step is your profile optimization. At my company, Lead Cookie, we have run over 300+ LinkedIn outreach campaigns. As a result, we have optimized our fair share of LinkedIn profiles along the way. In this article, we will share everything we have learned about profile optimization and give you a framework for optimizing your own. Why your LinkedIn profile is so important Even if you are not actively using LinkedIn as a sales channel, it's essential to optimize your profile. The reason is that your prospects are likely using it as a research channel. Whenever I meet someone new in business, LinkedIn is the first place I go. I use it to learn more and understand the background of the individual I am talking to. From someone's LinkedIn profile, I can make judgments about their experience, credibility, and much more. There is a large portion of the market that is using LinkedIn in this same way. They use it to research and find the professional background of each person they are talking to. This means that even if you don't meet your prospects on LinkedIn, your prospects are likely still using it as a way to research and validate your credibility. The #1 mistake in LinkedIn profiles There is one common mistake that nearly everyone makes when it comes to their LinkedIn profile... They make it all about themselves. This makes sense considering that LinkedIn started as a place to house your online resume and [...]

February 17th, 2020|

Member only SIG (special interest groups)

If your agency is a member at one of the following levels: Gold member Platinum member Key executive member Virtual owner peer group member Live owner peer group member You are eligible to send employees to one or more of the SIG Summits throughout the year. Once a year, we bring together agency employees who share a role or discipline within the agency -- with the intent of them learning from each other. In 2024, we'll hold two specific sessions. Digital -- March 7-8 in Denver Big Agency (25+ FTEs)  -- April 25-26 in Denver Each Summit is capped at 50 participants. They all work exactly the same way.  The agency can sign up to three participants for each Summit for $1,500/summit. Your only other expenses are travel to/from Denver and a prorated portion of the meeting expenses which averages out to about $500-750/person. You/your employees would travel to Denver the night before the Summit starts.  We will provide lunch the first day, and a group dinner following the first day.  We'll also provide lunch on the second day. Only owners can attend the big agency summit.  Any employee can attend the digital summit. The meeting is held at the Tivoli Student Union (Auraria Higher Education Center) 1068 9th Street Park, Denver, CO 80204.  You can find a nearby hotel here. The structure of these meetings is very different from an AMI owner or key executive network or our workshops.  A month+ before the meeting — We email the people attending the meetings (not the  owners — the actual people going to the SIG Summit) and they send us a list of things they want to talk about (you can download a sample digital and CFO/COO discussion [...]

February 12th, 2020|

Agencies and accounting can be friends with Chris Hervochon

[easy-social-share buttons=”facebook,twitter,google,linkedin,mail” counters=1 counter_pos=”topm” total_counter_pos=”leftbig” style=”icon_hover”] Most of us didn’t major in math or accounting. In fact, many of us were drawn to our industry because it wasn’t math centric! Unfortunately, agency leaders are not math exempt. Without proper financial data, it’s impossible to successfully run a profitable agency. This means your accounting partner, in-house or not, should be your constant companion. […]

February 3rd, 2020|

AMI member only webinars 2020

As a member -- you are entitled to attend all of our member only webinars and have access to their replay videos as well. Please invite your entire agency to participate in these webinars (you can have as many of your team sign up as you'd like or you can sign up once and watch them together!) All of the webinars are at noon central and IF you register -- you will automatically be sent the link for the replay.   February 25, 2020: Creating a growth culture with Doug Austin Doug Austin has lead biz dev teams in agencies big and small and he believes that every agency should have a growth culture that permeates through the entire team. Michael Stelzer said this about Doug: "I can say that our agency would not have been able to sustain the growth we enjoyed without his leadership. He is a master of choreography when it comes to pitching and winning." Learn how you can create that same success in your own agency. Watch the replay here   May 5, 2020: Unfortunately our recording of this webinar had technical difficulties.  We're sorry if you missed it.   August 31, 2020: Discover your leadership superpowers Using your unique strengths to galvanize your team and lead like a superhero. We are in unprecedented times, and we need leaders like you. Before COVID-19 hijacked our lives and our agencies, we may have taken for granted how easily we moved through our day. As people start to re-emerge, a new world is taking shape. Your agency may look drastically different. There is no better time to dig into your natural strengths and call on your inner super hero to help your [...]

February 1st, 2020|

Lead Generation 2.0

Study after study tells us that CMOs rank lead generation as their #1 priority and one of their biggest sources of frustration. So if we practice the tired “what keeps you up at night” exercise — I think we know the answer. Most of our clients and prospects need to generate more qualified leads and they admit that they don’t really have the tools or know how to do it. I speak at conferences where I am surrounded by agency owners who drive leads for their clients. But even among these agencies — there’s still a lot of discussion on how to develop a better strategy and how to help the clients embrace the technology that is part of the solution today. The truth is, many business leaders and many agencies (maybe you?) haven’t yet embraced the 2020 version of driving leads for our clients. There are lots of reasons why (cost, complexity, lack of content, etc.) but the truth is — if our agencies don’t figure out how to deliver on this need, someone else will. I don’t believe it’s optional today. A story I wrote for Forbes on marketing automation highlights this topic. How are you bringing new leads to your clients and what role does marketing automation play in that model? By the way — this isn’t just a challenge for our clients. How are you driving right fit prospects (not just anyone who walks in the door) to your agency? This was originally published in the weekly AMI newsletter.  To subscribe, click here.  

January 27th, 2020|

How to Manage Money in Business

I live in the Midwest and as a result, I am fascinated by farmers. They can do everything right and in the blink of an eye — a hail storm, too much rain or on the flip side, a drought can wipe out all of their efforts. It seems like the riskiest and most frustrating business model in the world. As dangerous as it seems, farmers tend to know how to manage money in business. But I can’t deny that our world of agency life has some similarities. How Agencies Need to Manage Money Agency owners and leaders work their tails off to chase down new clients, to keep the clients they have, to attract and grow the right team members. But then we make mistakes that either erode or completely eliminate all of the effort and the potential profits from those efforts. I identified some of these money mistakes in an article for Hubspot Mistakes that Will Bankrupt Your Agency. Check it out and put a plan in place to eliminate those mistakes from your agency’s SOP before you pay too great a price. If you know that your agency could use a tune-up (right structure, operating systems, staffing, actually making a double-digit profit, etc.) why not spend two days with us talking about these topics? Our workshop, Running Your Agency for Growth, Profit (and a little sanity) is designed for agency owners and we will pepper you with best practices, practical tips, and hacks that will help you make more and keep more of what you make. This was originally published in the weekly AMI newsletter.  To subscribe, click here. Learn More About Agency Money Management If you’re looking for even more guidance [...]

January 20th, 2020|

Business development happens in inches

I have had several phone conversations lately with agency owners who have sales pipelines that have dried up. They’re frustrated and scared about business development. I get it. We’ve all been there. But when I asked them about their new business activity, they all admitted that they’d taken their foot off the pedal. Sure — they all had great reasons why they didn’t do the follow-up or initiate the new tactic. You know what I’m going to say because you’ve said it to yourself. There will always be another reason/excuse. There’s always a fire to put out or something to be done internally. You have to carve out the time to work your new business plan and protect it like it’s your favorite kid’s birthday. It’s too easy to slide backward and once you lose the momentum, it’s back to the starting gate. Like exercise, it’s a lot easier if you work the muscle on a regular basis. By the way, this is never going to happen by accident or wishing. If you don’t calendar it out, your day is never going to suddenly free up. This was originally published in the weekly AMI newsletter. To subscribe, click here.

January 13th, 2020|

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