9 traits that will make your agency known for its best-of-class service with Susan Quinn

Hey, before we get to the show, I just wanna remind you that we have created a private Facebook group just for you, our podcast listeners. there are almost 1500 agencies, agency owners, inside that Facebook group every day talking about what’s going on inside their shop, asking for resources, gut checking decisions, talking about everything from pricing to hiring, to biz dev. All kinds of things are happening there. We’re starting conversations. You guys are starting conversations. What I love about it is the community’s coming together and sharing resources, encouraging each other, and just sort of having a safe place to talk about what it’s like to own an agency. So all you have to do is head over to Facebook, search for a Build, a Better, Agency Podcast group, or Build, a Better, Agency Podcast.

And you’ll find the group. You have to answer three questions. if you don’t answer the questions, we can’t let you in. But they’re simple. It’s, do you own an agency or do you work at an agency? And if so, what’s the U R L? What are you trying to get out of the group? And will you behave, basically? So come join us. if you haven’t been there for a while, come on back. if you haven’t joined, join into the conversation. I think you’re gonna find it really helpful. All right, let’s get to the show.

Running an agency can be a lonely proposition, but it doesn’t have to be. We can learn how to be better faster if we learn together. Welcome to Agency Management Institute’s Build, a Better Agency Podcast, presented by White Label IQ. Tune in every week for insights on how small to mid-size agencies are surviving and thriving in today’s market with 25 plus years of experience. As both an agency owner and agency consultant. Please welcome your host, Drew McLellan.

Hey everybody. Drew McLellan here from Agency Management Institute, back with another episode of Build a Better Agency. Super excited about this episode. I think you’re gonna find it fascinating and from a lot of different angles, actually, which I’ll talk about in just a second. Before I do that, I do wanna remind you that we have Money Matters coming up. Money Matters is October 16th and 17th in Denver. It is built for agency owners and right hand folks. Typically, CFOs or people in our financial role could be a director of account service that you want to be more in tune with sort of the metrics that matter to running an agency. But we get rave reviews from this workshop.

I, I love teaching this workshop. It is eye-opening in all of the best ways, but it’s also gonna point out to you some places where you can get stronger and better and more profitable. And so we talk about for two days, nothing but money. So pricing strategy, compensation models, sales taxes, you name it, anything tied to money, we cover it. And it’s all the agency best practices that you just don’t learn any place else. You, you’re not gonna learn it in an M M B A program. You’re not gonna learn it in school or in a book because it’s very specific to agencies. So we would love to have you join us. Head over to agency management institute.com under the How We Help.

You’re gonna find a workshops subtab. Money Matters is right there. Get registered and come join us if you attend and you’re like, yeah, this, this was not awesome. I didn’t learn anything. Drew and Danielle suck, whatever. We’re happy to give you your money back, we’ve never had to before, but there is no risk for you to attend. And I promise lots of R o I to attend. So join us. All right, so let me tell you a little bit about our guest today. So Susan Quinn is an agency owner that a m I has known for many, many years. We’ve worked with her and her business partner and her leadership team for a very long time, on and off. And they’ve just done some really remarkable things.

And I wanna dig into some of the ways that they have differentiated themselves, some of the learnings that they have, and in particular, the niche that they’ve landed on is very interesting. It’s gonna be interesting to you as a business owner. And it’s also gonna be interesting to you as an agency owner or leader in terms of doing strategy and guidance for your clients. So, lots of information packed into this episode. Lots of insight for you, again, both about running your agency, but also about how you can help your clients grow their business better. So without further ado, let’s get Susan on the show and let her start to telling you the story. Susan, welcome to the podcast.

Good morning, Drew. It’s great to be here with you.

So tell everybody a little bit about your background and the agency and then we’re gonna dig into sort of how you decided to niche and, and some of the fascinating things you’ve learned since you’ve done that. But first, give everybody just a little bit of background,

But Drew, I am one of those accidental agency owners for sure. I come from a family. My mom’s father was a business owner, owned a small little grocery store. My father was one of six boys, four of the six had their own company. Own company. I’ve got three brothers. My youngest brother owns a company. It, it’s just in my d n a. So

Yeah, right. You were born to do this? I

Was born to to be somehow involved with a business agency. I don’t know, maybe it landed in my lap, but I did do, I started out in marketing and I loved marketing. And then when my daughter was born almost 40 years ago, I hung my own shingle. So today we are a boutique firm based in Richmond, Virginia, and we focus on experiences. We focus on three of them, a best brand experience. And I’m sure a lot of the agencies are involved in that, creating a best in class employee experience. And that’s pretty important today.

Yes. To attract and talent that will ultimately you do those two things well, and then the customers, the clients, you should be able to reach that goal. And so those three experience are, are what we focus on, connecting the dots and helping. I mean, we all want everyone to grow, but that is exactly what we focus on every day.

So, so for many years you as an agency were generalists and then you started narrowing in and had a depth of clients in certain industries. But as you and your leadership team really wrestled with, you know, how do we specialize? How do we niche down? How do we really dive in? How did you land on the best of class? ’cause really, I would argue that the best brands embrace the best of class of employees and clients. I don’t think you can be a best brand if you don’t wrap those other two things around you. So I think the work that you’ve done to sort of identify those three parts of the whole are really fascinating.

And I know that we’re, I wanna talk about the research you’ve done and some of the things that make somebody a best of class. But first, how did you guys sort of gravitate towards that niche for your agency? And those are the kind of clients now that you serve.

Well, we certainly have followed the wise person that I’m speaking to today that there are riches and niches. You know, narrowing your focus. The old saying, we can do anything we want Drew, we just can’t do everything. Right. if you would look at over, you know, for 40 years, my, my firm now in the last 25 as Circle S, we are a B two B firm. Yeah, no doubt that that’s where we have our expertise. That’s what we know and love. We also knew there were two areas that we did a lot of work in a e c, a lot of engineers, construction a lot in the financial world.

And we were really looking for a third leg to the stool, if you will, right? I mean, right. For me it was, you know, what would be consistent and a little bit evergreen regardless of that, that industry that you focus on

And really recession proof, right? I mean, there’s, there’s really never an economic time where a company doesn’t wanna be best in class.

I would say that the big brands that we all know, certainly in the B two C world, yeah, they’ve got a lot of money. They’ve got a lot that goes behind that they care about the brand, they care about. Oh, I mean, Starbucks back in the day, that was really what started that company. And so I think it’s more front and center, maybe not so much in the professional services where we have expertise. So it’s a little bit of the remi, we know what we need to do to be healthy.

Yeah.

But there are a million books on how to do it better. I think this is a good reminder for the industries that we serve, that it’s not just that you are the smartest engineer, you’re not just the smartest financial advisor. So I think it’s a good reminder of the traits that get you to the highest performing levels. Yeah. And the experiences Drew that we think, and I’m sure you would agree, ’cause I, I hear enough of your podcasts that we are in the experience age, we’re not in the information age. That’s right. It’s, it’s been coming as we’ve seen it for the last 10 years.

No, no doubt. And and I think some of the things you’ve uncovered and some of the things you’re helping clients with, you know, some of them, and we’ll get into what the traits are, but you know, some of them are like, well, yeah, but the combination of the nine is sort of the magic. And so, you know, I, I know that, that you did some research. So talk about the, so did you identify the traits first and then do the research? Or did the traits come out of the research?

Great question. The traits are what we have been consulting on for about eight years. So that those traits came from our own curiosity of looking at

And experience

In experience. Yeah. So 40 years of doing this research, we’re always looking, we’re always digging. And then it was our list of what we see for our clients. Gosh, when they do these nine things well, they are outperforming their peers. Yeah. So we started looking at that from a consulting standpoint. And then the research was testing, do they matter? And I can step through whatever questions you may have on that. Yeah.

Well first let’s talk about because, but I, because I think it’s fascinating that, again, decades of experience between you, your business partner, your leadership team, your core team. So this is not you guys sitting around a conference room table one day and saying, Hey, what makes a best of class company? This is you guys having lived it, watched it, experienced it with your clients, and distilling it down to these things. So it, it is decades of insight and knowledge and real life experience of watching how these traits transform a good company into something that is truly best of class.

So walk us through the nine traits and then we’ll talk about the research and what you learned about the nine traits.

I’d like to also, as I step through them, you said something very powerful. It’s not just, they’re like, yeah, okay. But every single one of them connect and every single one is done at a high level. So with that, your insight on that and on number one, you define your guiding principles at a high level. You not only have them, you walk them, you talk them, you live them, you breathe them. So on those guiding principles, your purpose, yeah, it’s clear and people can cite them. Your vision, it’s no kidding, it’s laser sharp.

Whether it’s a three-year, five-year. Now back in the day we’d do 15. Right? Your mission, how you do it, you know, a lot of companies have that. A lot of it, it’s a check the box, but the core values Drew, they do that better than a lot of other companies. They’re

Not, yeah. It’s not just something on the wall, right? They like, actually, they actually use the core values to make corporate decisions. And so, and that’s sort of their check and balance, right? To see if they are, is their litmus test to see if they really are on the right path.

And that was one of the questions in the research. So I love where you’re going with that. And we can come back, ask me to come back to a story on core values. Okay? You either have them or you don’t. Right? But we, we push on that. But the core values, they’re words, but they’re the behaviors that’s core the culture. And if you don’t have culture, then you can’t optimize the employee experience, which is the second one. These firms are doing it better from the time you’re a prospect as an employee, even as you have exited, retired, it is optimized at the highest level. And then those two in place, you can exceed your customer or client experience because you’re focused on all of the details of it.

Makes sense. Everyone does it. No, they don’t. But then the next part that we see in these firms is that the focus on quality is intense. And the qa qc program, you don’t just do it once again, you live it every day. The part of another component, the dashboard is rich. I mean, if you were flying a plane, that dashboard, it is in front of you and you have real time on key experiences, financial, what’s keeping employees, and that they’ve got a different dashboard. That’s pretty interesting.

Is there one? Well, no, ’cause every company and every person is different, right? There’s also this holistic approach to their ecosystem, particularly as they, they’re doing strategic planning. And so what they do, it’s the lens of all the stakeholders. And that is a slightly different, and we look at that too. Yeah, you can stay in your jar, but you have to know the intersection and how that creates stronger partnerships and alliances. So they do that. Well, another one, they avoid complexity,

Making the complex simple.

Yeah. Steve Jobs had a great, I mean he did did that. He made the, with a smartphone, but it took a whole lot to get it that simple. We’re in a world today, don’t make me think.

Right?

So if I have to pull out a manual to do the basics, then you’re making me think it’s gotta be pithy that that close adapt to change. And they’ve got means and measures to do so. So I don’t know about you, but they’re pretty strong headwinds that we’re seeing,

Right?

The ones that have these nine traits front and center every day, they are navigating, they are able to move that sailboat and they, they’re catching it, but they are navigating around a lot of it. And then the last one is, and this may be my favorite ’cause at the core, I think that’s who we are as a company, that you continue to learn and you continue to improve that you never just quite there. So those are the nine,

Those are a lofty nine.

Yeah.

Because a lot of them, I think a lot of companies give lip service to, right? But to actually weave them into your best practices, your boundaries, your guidelines, your how you hire, how you grow people, like all of those, everything you just listed, all nine impact. First the employee experience, then the customer experience, you know, as, as you know, because we’ve known each other forever. You know, I’m a big Walt Disney fan, and, and Walt’s whole premise was, if you take care of the cast members, they take care of the clients and the, and what they call the guests, right?

And from there, the money comes. Like, he had a very clear understanding. And I think the, the nine traits that you just listed are the same thing. Like, look, you gotta have your house in order first, everybody’s gotta understand where we’re going and why we’re going there. And then we have to treat everybody the way they wanna be treated. We have to create great opportunities for our people, and then we can put out a quality product for our clients and create a great experience for them. Oh, and by the way, no matter how good we are today, tomorrow’s gonna be different. And we have to keep learning and improving to get better. I mean, that’s, that is a, that’s one of those things that it’s, it’s every company says they do it, but do they actually do it?

Right?

I love that. And I think that’s what we see. And the numbers will tell the story ultimately. Yeah. If you’re not staying relevant, you know, we’re living and you have to constantly innovate and improve whatever that may look like within your company. Innovation isn’t, you know, you’re setting the greatest and grandest, but you know, innovation should be in every company, right? if you be doubling revenue or, you know, having someone want to trust you as a customer, or by the way, attract the talent that you want,

Right?

They’ve gotta see that in the core of your company.

Well, and I think it’s the trait of that, especially with the speed of change today. The reality of that is there isn’t, there is not a company that’s not being held to that standard by both their employees and their, and their clients or customers, right? It’s how, how are you helping me today? But how are you also preparing to help me tomorrow?

It’s a pretty high bar.

Yeah.

You know, it used to be perhaps the management, you know, you held a high bar and you would just tell people, your team, this is how we’re gonna do it. Right? Everyone wants to be part of the equation, right? You know, there’s leadership today. You’ve got context to how everyone fits into the puzzle. I’ve never seen it at a higher level.

Yeah.

We need context at every level. And that takes a lot of energy, you know? And does it impact profitability? Well, the numbers show that when you do best in class, you can double revenue within three years. Now we may be, the headwinds may be slowing that a little bit, but in more

Normal, even still though.

Yeah.

I mean, even if it takes five years to double revenue, that is still for, as you said, if you have a three or five year goal, that’s a pretty lofty goal. You know, as you know, one of the things we talk a lot about is, you know, you can only grow so fast without, without breaking all the systems and all the processes. But to double in size every three or five years is, that’s aggressive growth.

Yeah. It’s the good, the ugly of all of that.

But, but it is also for most companies, their number one goal is to keep growing. And so if behaving in these ways, if embracing these traits and truly living them, you know, that’s, that’s not about being cheaper. It’s not about making the stuff faster. It’s not about like, it’s not about all the things that I, a lot of the levers that a company would typically wanna pull or think they have to pull to grow in revenue and profits. This is really just about being a better company and being more true to who you really are and who you aspire to be. So I wanna talk a little bit about the research and then I wanna talk, but we’ll probably take a break.

But then I wanna talk about, okay, it’s great that you know all of this, but now how are you, how is, how is Circle Ss applying all of this and helping their clients embrace it? So first, talk to us a little bit about the research, how you did the research, some of the surprising insights that came from that research and then, then I’ll dig into more. I just have a million questions.

Sure. I think we mentioned in 2013 we saw that by 2020 that the customer experience would overtake price as a brand differentiator. So we saw that literally 10 years ago and we started to adjust the way we were focusing on brand, employee and client experience at a higher level, making sure their guiding principles were strong. So making sure everything was right at home so that they could, we could get the lift.

Yep.

Then Covid hits, remember that fun little thing back in? Oh

Yeah. That, yes I do. I vaguely remember that. Yes.

Yeah. Well we thought we would be, you know, working from home for two weeks and then we don’t need to tell everyone the story. We’ve lived it, we’ve known it, but it was, wow, we have been following this whole experience part and now we’re seeing research that says in the great resignation that 89% are leaving because they don’t feel a sense of purpose at where they’re working. Yeah. And we’re, whoa, alright, how does purpose the nine traits covid disrupting us? Is there anything we need to be looking at differently?

Should we basically be consulting in a different way? So we sought our wonderful friend, Susan Byer, and said, okay, we’re ready. I’ve always wanted to do research.

Yep.

The hypothesis was that purpose is really important and these three experiences will help us navigate the uncertain waters of Covid and, and the change that we don’t know. And then Susan said, well, you know, my job is to prove your hypothesis wrong. So I’m like, alright, go for

It. Right. She’s annoying that way. Oh, but

She’s terrific and did such a wonderful job and can’t wait for the next version of this research. But that was the hypothesis. What is the importance of a best in class? Did these nine traits matter in governing your company? And how did you interact during Covid and did anything change? So with that being the premise, what we got back, you know, Susan does the segmentation, the attitude came out and there were three, and they were almost a third, a third, a third, and they broke down like this 35%. And they were all 97% were C-Suite in a executive level.

Yep. And, you know, statistically relevant, Susan was quite pleased with what she had to be able to provide information back. 35% are satisfied of the respondents kind of in the catbird seat. They, they actually think customers and, and their employees come to them because they have gotten at a best in class place. They best at what they do and they focus on the employee experience and the client experience as much as they need to. But it’s really, they, they do all of it well. So they’re pretty satisfied. And that’s 45% in the marketplace.

And then we had the simplifiers 34%. What stood out to us on that, they liked the elements of the nine traits and they really focus on processes. They’re somewhat internally based and they simplify a few of them, maybe not all of them. Okay. But it’s gotten them to a position of authority. But the main part of the simplifier is they think best in class is Huby, BTY, bunch of marketing speak. Don’t tell me about that. Just get out there, do your job, do it well, and you will be recognized. So that was the mindset of a third, 34%.

Right? And then third, they were aspiring 31%. These may be our favorite types of clients and we have all three, honestly,

Of course. Right. And

I think you need all three in mindsets. But this group, the number one thing they focus on are the guiding principles. It drives every aspect of their company. They are clear on their purpose. That employee experience is what they take metrics on it all the time, continue to improve it. They take a pulse, they take more than the other two, they do research on their clients. Hmm. And then the number one trait that stood out for them is they always wanna keep improving. They’re always bettering their best. So those were the aspiring, and we, I I love that it’s kind of a third, a third, a third.

We’ve got a bunch of mindsets out there. And we know that how we show up as business leaders has a lot to do with the way we think. Yeah. And so that, that’s what the marketplace is thinking right now.

So what surprised you in the research as you were, as you were going through the data? I know, you know, we’ve done the agency Edge series with Susan for a decade, and there’s always a few things that as we’re going through the results, I’m like, oh, okay, I wouldn’t have expected that, or that surprises me or that that’s a light bulb moment for me in terms of connecting a dot that I didn’t seek connecting. So what, what were some of the aha moments for you out of the research?

I think the biggest is, you know, at the highest level, the satisfied, you know, they, they’re best. They may not use that term. The simplifiers don’t even wanna go there. So that’s two thirds of Right. And the, you know, a third are like, yes. You know, just keep bettering. But 71% of the respondents said that having a best in class reputation would have a greater impact on who they select as a strategic partner.

Oh, interesting. So it’s not about me, it’s about you. Right. It’s it we’re, we’re good, but when I pick a partner, man, I want best in class. Isn’t that fascinating?

Okay. Yeah. So who do they do? And so it, you want it, you’re known by the company you keep.

Yeah.

And so for the agencies listening, you know, if you are doing things at a best in class level, you’re the best. You may want to, and I know there are ways to do it, it’s not about you, but they’re gonna be looking for that. Do you know my industry? Are you top in whatever you are doing? They will be seeking a partnership that has a best in class reputation or that stands out

That is an ah moment. And, and also do you potential partner, do you have a set of core values? And show me how you live them out. Show me how they influence your employees. Show me how I’m gonna feel those core values. So I think, I think for so many companies, and I know for a lot of agencies, they may go through the exercise of creating core values, but they’re sort of a best kept secret, right? They, they don’t talk about it. They don’t, they don’t point out to prospects or clients. Look, this is the reason why we, we have this policy or we do it this way, is because it aligns with something we hold deep in our hearts as as critical.

So it’s not just having it, but it’s also about how do you communicate all of that? Because it, what I’m hearing you say is it’s a beacon that draws people to you and makes people choose you again, experience over price. Right. So now I don’t have to be the cheapest agency. I don’t have to compete on price, which by the way, we should never be doing, but I can be true to who I am and it will help me attract people who align with those core values, which also mean they’re gonna be clients for longer. Yeah.

Second point, yes. On everything you just said, just what stood out on the research, the first two, the satisfied the Simplifiers saw best in class the same. And that was best in class meant there was high visibility of their leadership. Best in class meant the number of years that they had been in business. So there was a longevity component. They saw best in class as the revenue, the number that they were achieving, they saw best in class. Or if you’re a public, the stock value the company size. So that’s what they deemed best in class.

So all external like factors. Yeah.

Aspiring best in class, the employee experience got a high mark that the customer satisfaction got your net promoter score. That you were in a league of your own, that you were constantly innovating, that you, the promise you make from a brand component is lived within your company. It is lived in every part the, with your stakeholders, with your clients. So best in class, once again is how they live, breathe, do everything. Yeah.

It’s all about the experience. I think it’s

A yes. And I think you should have both of them, right? But what’s is, there’s maybe a little more of the soft side and then taking the pulse of how you’re doing. And there’s a bit of an aversion for some to actually take that pulse because they don’t really want anyone to say they need to do it better. Right. The aspiring always wants to know how to improve.

Yeah. Well it’s sort of cart before the horse, right? It’s like, okay, I’m, I am gonna judge whether we’re best of class by the results as opposed to how we behave, which will always yield the results. So again though, for for two thirds of the respondents, they’re gonna be much more influenced by the economy or other things as opposed to no matter what’s happening in the world, we can get better and we can serve our employees and clients better, which will always result in long-term better revenue, better profits, better employee retention, better client retention metrics that are not just about dollars and cents.

Exactly. Yeah. I mean it’s that small iterative, putting the few things you need to do every day for that long-term success. Yeah. It’s have our financial portfolio and everything else. You know, it’s a long-term play, long-term mindset. Yeah. And not the, the topic du jour. Right. But strategically, it’s where you, you are authentically and where you’re going.

So this is fascinating. So I, I wanna dig into the, now I wanna take a break. We have to take a break. I don’t wanna take a break, but we have to take a break. When we come back, I want to talk about how you as an agency embrace all of this insight and how you bring it to your clients. Because I think it’s, I, I’ve known you guys for a really long time and I think it’s dramatically changed what you do for clients and how you do it. So I wanna talk about that and just sort of how you’ve transformed the agency from an agency that made stuff to an agency that really is sort of a strategic partner. But let’s take a quick break and then we’ll come back and talk about sort of the evolution of the agency as a result of this niche and this insight.

Alright, we’ll be right back guys. Just a quick reminder that every week we send out a newsletter. We brilliantly call it the weekly newsletter, comes out every Wednesday and it is filled with just some ideas that I have around something that’s important to you. So I of the lead story is always something that I’ve been talking to a lot of agency owners about or something that I wanna sort of put in front of you to get you thinking. A lot of times there’s questions to think about or, or some resources. And then there’s always a link to the weekly video and then a list of the workshops and whatever else is going on. We also, we get a lot of promotional offers from, you know, friends who are running agency programs like Macon or other folks like that with discounts.

And so that’s also where we share all that information. So if you’re not hearing from me every week in your inbox and you wanna do that, just go to the AAMI website and scroll down to the footer and you’re gonna see a link to our newsletter. Just click on that. All you have to do is give us your name and email and we will start putting that in your inbox. Okay. We would love to be a resource for you every week. So if that would be helpful, sign up today. Thanks. Alright. I am back with Susan Quinn from Circle S and we are talking about how they have niched their agency down with this depth of expertise in what it takes to be a high performing company and to be best of class. So as you’ve said, you, you have been, you’ve been an entrepreneur for 40 some years.

You’ve had the agency that you have now for 25 plus years. Talk a little bit about how this last decade of last, what, 10, 12 years of you sort of really honing into this idea of best of class and niching down to truly understand what that means. How has that changed the agency?

For me personally, I love to connect the dots. You know, you’ve gotta be able to see patterns and you know, you, you do this for 20 some years and it’s like, wow, some of these companies were helping them, but then they continue to have growth. What, what are they doing differently? So I got just immersed in leadership. I downloaded about 17 million articles from Harvard Business and had a notebook this thick that, you know, I would read through and it’s like, oh, okay, just let’s connect with the better leaders and let’s stay, you know, your, your network equals your net worth and

Yep, yep.

Those that, that like to lead. So I do think leadership is a component of it, but it was, as the nine traits came to be, it was much more than that. And what we ended up doing is, wow, when companies are doing this, number one, we have several that we’ve been in partnership with for 23, 24 years. Yep. That’s a long time. Drew what’s the average of a a, a consulting firm?

Yeah. Most, most agencies keep clients three to five years. You know, if you can get to double digits, that’s a really great metric, but it’s, it’s hard to do for agencies. But you’re right, you’ve had a lot of clients for 20 plus years

And you know, top five, top 10 that are a good portion of, of our success. What we were seeing is the percentage of growth, their net promoter scores continuing to improve. And it’s like, you know what we need to basically put in not the package, but what we are consulting. It doesn’t have to be these two industries. This is evergreen,

Right.

We can do this. And it is an important consulting feature. So that’s, that’s what we have done and the numbers were actually, we’ve got a book coming out first of the year that has some of the case studies. I mean, in seven years, over 300% growth in the 20 years tripling their company, you know, from a couple hundred million to an over billion dollar company. They all say we are a key component to that growth. Well it’s not Susan Quinn, it’s not, it’s, it’s the process that we are looking at, right. The congruency of it, it’s the flywheel, it’s the Jim Collins flywheel of the key things that we can be experts in that help them propel, propel their growth.

And it’s, it’s fun. It’s what we love. It’s our purpose, our passion.

Well, and, and as we see agencies get commoditized across the board in terms of making the stuff, one of the things that the evolution of your agency is, it’s not that you don’t still produce things for clients because you do, whether it’s a podcast or it’s signage or it’s, you know, a website or it’s, you know, PPC and s e o you guys still do a lot of things for clients, but the difference is now you’re really starting with a, a deep strategy and metrics that you’re measuring against that have long-term impact. So talk a little bit about, you know, again, to your point and what I’m sure will be in the book is one of the reasons why you have clients for 20 years, which by the way, you don’t just have clients, you’ve also grown the agency’s revenue from those clients.

So those clients not only stay with you, but they continue to spend more money with you because of the results you deliver for them. Talk about what, how that has evolved in terms of the kind of people that you guys hire, the, what it’s done for employee retention, what it’s done for helping you and your team continue to grow and get better at what you do. ’cause it’s, the trajectory of your agency is different now than it was.

I think we were trying to do all things for all all companies.

Yeah.

You, you just can’t do all of it. Well, you need to tap the brake step back. What are we passionate about? What do we do well? What does our team, when we come together with our core values that you, you don’t even feel like you’ve worked the day. It’s just, it’s evaporated. ’cause you’re doing the focus things that you love. We do use a lot of, in the network of a m i and others of the stuff that we don’t do day to day. Right. And that for those clients that need that. But where we now focus and where the trajectory has changed, we are looking for a team that is continuing to look at the user experience, be it from the brand, how you navigate the web, how you navigate in a big client event.

We do big national events, sales events or the annual meetings that have an experience that will knock your socks off, right. Because it’s, it’s that brand is elevated, the importance, you know, it’s everything is around those three experiences and continuing to learn what’s coming and how to do it better. So that’s what has changed over the years that we have known each other. Very intentional. We know what we do well and we partner with those that do the other things better than we do.

So how do you think your revenue, if you, if you were gonna break down your revenue in terms of strategy, consulting time versus making things time, how has that shifted over the last decade?

Well, we really didn’t have consulting 10 years ago, so that, right, that started to change. We, you guided us, you know, the big consulting firms were adding the branding firms. So we saw the brand and we, we got into that and it was actually, we did a little bit of it, but now we do a lot of it before this past year. And we’ve, we’ve seen some headwinds, but the consulting part was a third, our creative maybe a little bit more. And then we do a lot of digital, we do a lot of the websites that support the brand and those three were, were pretty even consulting has, I, I’m seeing a dip in it this year, but I’m also seeing a dip in spending.

Oh, overall for sure.

Essential. So, but that, that’s been the biggest change is that we can get on the front end of it with strategic insights, with research that can then inform the right brand, the right employee and the right client experience. So research qualitative, quantitative is what guides everything that we do creatively and digitally.

And how has it changed who you work with? Not, not the company, but the level of leadership that you’re in front of? I have to think that this focus on best of class and the strategy side and the research side takes you out of working with like a marketing manager and elevates you up to a different table.

Definitely. We we’re at the C-suite so that, you know, there’s a lot of power in that when you are part of the team that is clear on that vision and yeah. That, that’s where that customer trust, that client trust when they know the essence of your agency, how you think, what you do, and there’s a congruency to that, you start to make lifelong uniquely remarkable relationships. And that’s what we’re looking for it, you know, the one and done and yeah, you can do a project, we want long-term success that spurs growth and experiences that make you stand out

Well and deepens the relationship and the trust that client has with you. So they can’t imagine doing it without you at the table. Right?

Yeah, yeah. I mean that’s what, that’s what we hope they think that they wouldn’t want us going to their competitor and how it’s changed yet. I would say bigger companies, the, you know, we’re definitely middle market to, you know, some of the largest or you know, well over 1.5 billion, some several billion. So that’s been a change since we have started with this, you know, nine traits best in class thought leadership of how to guide it. It it’s, it’s giving us a new audience to be able to help them tell their story.

Yeah. And it makes geography irrelevant right now. Now it, no one really caress where you guys live because you have a depth of expertise that transcends geography or a region or an industry.

Covid did help. The, the silver one we had is we are all just fine on a virtual meeting. Nothing face-to-face, it never will. But it’s the, it’s a hybrid of that. We have multiple ways to be and do and communicate. So yes, that’s been a benefit and the, our footprint is nationwide for sure.

Yeah. Yeah. This is, this is fascinating. Okay, my last question, what’s next? Because as we now know, one of the, one of the traits of being a best of class is that you’re always aspiring to learn more, get better. So for you and the agency, what’s on your radar screen? How are you guys getting better and learning more?

We will always question what we’re doing and always hold the mirror up to say, alright, it’s not them, it’s us. What what do we need to change? And then also what trends are coming our, our strategic sessions and you, you hear a lot of them, but you know, our strengths, our weaknesses, opportunities, that’s front and center for everyone. But the double t of trends and threats are really important right now. We, we commissioned a small group a couple of years ago when I could see the public companies really investing in ai and we were like, whoop, that’s the wild, wild west.

We need to just wait and see what’s gonna happen, but we’re back with another strategic group of how that’s going to change our industry, what’s gonna change our clients. And it’s a no kidding, and I know from a legal standpoint you’re guiding us on that, but AI is front and center for us to understand the disruption but also Drew the opportunity, you know, the different tools that we can bring that make us smarter and better and save time for what the brain can do. And, but let the tools that can make it faster, let them do it. So that’s a, that’s a key thing. Just trends and threats and looking at what you know, what’s coming next.

I mean the, if I had a crystal ball then, you know, we would have more clients and we know what to do with right. But the traits that I mentioned are what guide us day to day and they will guide us no matter what is happening in the marketplace. Stay curious, continue to care about every part of it and you will continue to see growth and know what you do and be really comfortable with don’t do that so well. Right. Who is our partner that can help us get there?

Yeah, so important, so important to really understand who and what you are to your employees, to your clients, and get better and better and drill deeper and deeper into that and, and recognize that, as you said, can’t do it all for everybody.

Never.

This has been awesome. Thank you Susan for spending the time with us and, and sharing a little bit about the research. So if, if people wanna learn more about the research, if they wanna sort of test the waters to see really are they best of class, they want to learn more about the work you do, what’s the best way for them to do all of that?

If you go to our website, circle s studio.com and you go to the menu, there is a best in class link. And if you go to that, there is a landing page that has a summary of the research that we’ve mentioned today. You can also take a quiz on the nine traits, which would be fun for management team or for yourself. And you know, ask yourself whatever that score is, where can we improve, right? And are we satisfied? You know, whoops, do we need to simplify something and might we aspire to another level in something? So that could be fun. We’ve also got a lot of insights, blogs. We’ve got a webinar coming up with a company that’s doing training at a really high level that’s attracting and retaining, I think, awesome talent for them.

And so we’re gonna continue to bring what, when we see best in class, it’ll be part of our webinars series and we’ll just continue to ask questions and surround ourselves. We would love to create a community where best in class and always bettering your best. It’s not unlike what you’re doing Drew right. With, with our a m i community that it’s from the brand employee and client experience specific to the work that we do in consulting and letting the numbers tell the story and be part of the story.

Yeah. We learn better and faster when we learn together, right?

That’s right.

Yeah. This has been great. Thank, thank you so much for, for sharing all of this with everybody. I, I knew this would be a great episode, but I i it’s an inspiring episode. I think we can all be inspired to aspire and be part of that aspiring group of people and business owners and leaders that just wanna keep getting better.

Thank you for what you do. You keep us on that trajectory, keep bettering our best.

Yeah, it’s, it’s a fun partnership, that’s for sure. Absolutely. All right guys, this was a great episode. Seriously, go take the quiz, go see where you are, this would be a great conversation. But first of all, here’s what I’m gonna tell you to do. Go take the quiz, send the link to your leadership team, compare answers, because again, part of that curiosity is, you know, curiosity, we know what we know, but it’s hard to see the outside Label of a bottle when you’re inside the bottle. So not only ask your leadership team, but be brave enough to, as Susan was saying, ask your employees, ask your clients, you know, clients satisfaction surveys are such a critical part of us continuing to get better.

But go take the quiz and sort of identify how you can be even better than you are today. The research is fascinating. I highly recommend reading the executive summary and then following the folks at Circle SS as they continue to learn and teach more about what it takes to be best of class. So this is, this is an ongoing assignment for you. This is something that I don’t care, I don’t care what clients you serve, I don’t care how big your agency is, we can all continue to get better and I think one of our jobs is to help our clients get better. And this is a deeper way for us to help our clients. So go check all of those things out.

Connect with Susan and her team on LinkedIn. They post a lot of content there, but I highly recommend that you take some action off of this episode and you continue to learn from our friends at Circle s and what they’re learning. Okay, so that was your homework as always. I do wanna pause and thank our friends at White Label IQ, as you know, they are the presenting sponsor of the podcast and also the summit by the way, which is coming up in May of 24, which is, seems far away, but honestly it is not. But anyway, many thanks to our friends at White Label IQ. They are an a m I partner. They, I’ve known ’em for 20 some years, but they do an amazing job of white Label, PPC dev and design.

Good, good folks. You talk to them in real time and then they, they do all the magic work behind the scenes. So if you are a small shop and you don’t have web dev in-house or you only have one person that does any of those and you need some overflow support, head over to White Label IQ dot com slash aami and they will give you some free hours on your first project. So check them out and be sure you tell them that you headed over there because you listened to that podcast and you appreciate them. That would be awesome. Alright, I’ll be back next week with another smart and insightful guest like Susan to help you think differently about your business. And in the meantime, you know how to get ahold of me.

So I’ll see you in the Facebook group and I’ll see you next week. Thanks for listening.

That’s all for this episode of AAMIs Build. a Better Agency Podcast. Be sure to visit agency management institute.com to learn more about our workshops, online courses, and other ways we serve small to mid-size agencies. Don’t forget to subscribe today so you don’t miss an episode.