Podcasts

Agency owners are scrambling to take advantage of the CARES Act, and in particular the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans but there’s a lot we don’t know because there’s a lot that is not set in stone.   There is a total lack of clarity around this how the PPP works – from application all the way through repayment and potential forgiveness. The 800-page act says one thing and the SBA says another. As I describe it in my conversation with guest Stephen Katz, we are repairing the plane while we’re flying it.

Agency owners wear many hats and certainly one of the most important is leader. There are days when that’s easy and even fun. And then, there are days like the ones we’ve been having lately, when the weight of that role can get pretty heavy. Our employees need us to guide them through these uncharted waters. And to do that, we need to stay calm, confident and compassionate. But how do you do that when you can’t even be in the same room.

Odds are you cannot remember a more tumultuous time in your agency. You probably endured through 9/11 but we understood what happened and why. You probably survived the 07-08 recession but we saw it coming and had time to plan and adjust. Covid-19 brings a rare and overwhelming combination of a health scare, human isolation, and an economic shutdown all in one fell swoop. No wonder you’re feeling a bit frantic. That’s why I’m worried about you. If you can’t stand strong through this, your agency is in trouble.

US and European based agency owners are fighting vigilantly as the coronavirus pandemic unfolds in their region of the world. It’s affecting agencies and their clients in significant ways. I’ve been talking to agency owners non-stop for the last two weeks and one thing is for sure – one agency’s experience is not like another’s. For some, business and AGI has never been better. In others, 50% of their AGI has walked out in less than ten days. I wanted to connect with an agency owner who had already experienced everything we are going through today and could tell us what’s coming next.

Today’s episode is a twofer – and both topics are going to benefit your shop. The first is the idea of collaborating with your prospects to create content that is valuable for both of you. From there you can leverage that shared experience to create new opportunities for your agency. The second is how you can write that book you’ve been thinking about, despite how overloaded your calendar and life can be.

There’s not a small business owner on the planet who isn’t concerned about how the coronavirus is going to impact their business, employees, clients, and family. Those worries are complicated by the fact that this is also a health risk to those you love. I can’t help with the health risk part – but I can help ease your fears about your business. We’re going to survive this together and in this episode, I am going to give you some tips and tactics to get you and your agency through this storm and back to calm waters.

The more you know about a person, the easier it is to connect with them. One of the challenges when it comes to biz dev is that we really don’t know too much about the prospect we’re trying to build a relationship with, especially in the early stages of the sales pitch. But what if there was a way for you to gain those insights even if you’ve never met them in person?

Many agency owners are familiar with the book Traction by Gino Wickman and his Entrepreneurial Operating System. It’s a fantastic methodology for improving your agency’s ability to scale effectively, growing a leadership team and building a more sustainable, profitable agency. If you implement Traction properly. Otherwise, it can be a huge waste of time and money.

[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.

[easy-social-share buttons=”facebook,twitter,google,linkedin,mail” counters=1 counter_pos=”topm” total_counter_pos=”leftbig” style=”icon_hover”] Robert Glazer is the founder and CEO of Acceleration Partners, a global marketing agency that specializes in partner or affiliate marketing. Initially, I planned on spending our time debunking the myths around affiliate marketing space (which we still covered), but our conversation took an interesting turn and instead we focused on Acceleration Partners’ growth journey. Robert described the transformation of his agency from five employees to several hundred in multiple countries – all in less than a decade. As you might imagine, it was not without some difficult crossroads.