Steal from the agency that you don’t want to be
The catalyst for starting our business is often a rejection of something else.
We've all got different views of what we want our business to be and what we don't want it to become.
For some, the focus of our business is quality of work. Authenticity and craft.
For others it’s entrepreneurial drive. Seeking out valuable problems. Making some money.
Whatever your focus, it shapes everything about your agency from the clients you attract to how you measure success. But here's the thing: that very focus might be holding you back.
When beliefs become barriers
It starts before you even get going. Your role models in your career all did things a certain way that inspired you. And there will have been other figures who you found less impressive.
Then when you find success, you attribute it back to the things that you learned and implemented. It includes the things you decided to steer clear of, too.
This experience is what makes you different. And that differentiation makes for fantastically authentic positioning.
But it leads to the formation of the beliefs that there's a right way to run an agency.
These beliefs create a bubble around your business. The moment you instinctively dismiss a tactic without understanding it, you’ve found the edge of your bubble.
Now what makes you different isn’t just defining what your agency is, it’s limiting what your agency can be.
And in an industry that’s constantly evolving, you can’t afford those limits.
What are they doing that works?
So the question is what does the agency model that you reject have to teach you? What good stuff exists within the approach you’ve dismissed as “not how we do things”?
Time to open your mind and see things from their perspective.
If you shake your head at the cold outreach and hard sell of another agency, then ask yourself how that could unlock doors. Crafting high converting messaging. Pitching. Building repeatable lead generation and sales machines. Hitting the DMs and making it happen.
Where could exposing a load of influential people to your agency’s talents get you?
Or perhaps you’ve got an amazing sales machine and you wonder why every founder isn’t out there 100% of the time ambitiously networking.
Step back and consider what focusing on existing clients and quality of work will do for you. High client retention. Referrals. A reputation that commands a premium.
Find your blind spots
Are you rejecting something because it’s not the culture you want.
Or are you resisting it because it’s hard?
Go wider than just sales vs craft:
Is time tracking micromanagement or is it essential data that improves your profits?
Is farming everything out to freelancers cheating or does it create a robust model that can adapt to the market?
Is using AI for everything inauthentic or the new table-stakes?
Challenge everything.
Where’s the opportunity?
Through this you can increase your awareness and find new ways to grow.
Maybe those other agencies’ tactics need adapting to your style. But you shouldn’t instinctively reject anything.
Because they are effective.
The proof is that those other businesses... are in business.
The ones that doesn’t focus on sales
The ones that sends thousands of cold outreach emails
The ones that subcontracts everything
Are all operating in the same market as you.
So you can’t claim it doesn’t work.
And it’s limiting to believe they are doing it wrong until you’ve taken the time to understand what it is that they are doing.
Become aware of your bubble, and then maybe expand it.
The practices you dismiss today might be the ones that transform your agency tomorrow.
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