Waverly Ave. Consulting

In case you missed anything, here are some of the posts that resonated MOST with agencies this month. Key points: 1. Clients often underestimate the importance of establishing a budget, which can lead to unrealistic expectations and wasted time for both parties. 2. Undercharging leads to overwork and diminished quality of service. 3. More output does not necessarily lead to better results; focusing on fewer, higher-quality tasks can be more effective and beneficial. Links to the original posts in the comments below Which one is your favorite? To see more posts like these follow me Melissa Lohrer

June's highlights to help you catch up on anything you might have missed! Key points: 1. When reaching out on LinkedIn for leads, skip the generic messages. Personalize your approach with messages that show you care. 2. Before you scale your business, ask yourself if you really love what you do. Scaling works best when you're passionate about your business, making growth more fulfilling and sustainable 3. Balancing project scope means being flexible enough to adapt to changes while giving clients enough structure to feel confident. It's about finding that sweet spot to prevent scope creep. Links to the original posts in the comments below 👇 Which one is your favorite?  To see more posts like these follow me, Melissa Lohrer

We covered A LOT of topics through our content and are starting a series to bring you the highlights each month (in case you missed them!). This month's takeaways? 1. Focus on building long-term relationships rather than closing sales if you're looking for consistent growth, higher client retention, and choice over your work 2. Make your agency stand out by genuinely connecting your narrative to your ideal client's needs and interests (focus on them, not you) 3. As an agency owner, take ownership of the business development process (even if you have support); You're the only one who can "fix" your business. Links to the original posts in the comments below 👇 Tell us which is your favorite! Want more posts like these? Follow me Melissa Lohrer

Does your agency know what red flags to look for in an RFP? There are a few common red flags I always look out for... Swipe right to instantly improve your win rate 🚩🚩🚩 ---> As an industry, we complain about the way RFPs and pitches are run—yet continue to participate, signaling to clients and search consultants that we're okay with this process. I'm not against a competitive pitch for the right opportunity—but so many RFPs I read are either: 1. Premature (they don't know what they need, are not internally aligned on the ask, and/or don't have investment planned for) 2. Too small (for a small project, they are asking reputable agencies to jump through all sorts of hoops to earn their business) Having been on the client side recently, there are many other effective ways for clients to find the right agency partner than sending out a "mass" RFP. Here's what you can do as an agency... > Have a conversation with the client to see if their objectives align with what you do best... and assess if there is any immediate chemistry > Offer to introduce them to a similar current or past client who can endorse what it is like to partner with you > Offer to introduce them to a few team members so they can get a better feel for who they would be working with > Scope a first phase of work or session so they can see how you think If you're auto-responding to every "mass" RFP that comes your way, you're burning out your team and wasting resources that could be better focused on actually winning new clients. #RFP #BusinessDevelopment #Agency

Our best advice for agencies as business development experts is you shouldn't be relying on RFPs as your main strategy to win clients. But platforms like @Breef give you exposure to brands you never would have had otherwise. If you’re looking to grow as a six-figure agency, participating in a few of these each year as part of a bigger business development strategy. Here’s what to avoid and how to stand out in your submissions: ❌ Agency clichés (that whole, “we work with big and small, and everything in between”) ❌ Copy and pasted generic proposals ❌ Generalists who show they did work with brands that are irrelevant to the business they are proposing to These things will cause you to stand out to your potential client in a pitch process: ⭐Agencies that provided personalized responses. ⭐ Agencies that specialize in the particular niche that connects to the business and highlighted relevant experience ⭐Genuine interest. It's as simple as, “We like your brand and are excited to work with you!” ⭐Those who did their homework, and look at your perspectives' brand, website, and social content. In many conversations with Breef, the agencies that do best: 1. Specialize in a niche 2. Are clear on who their ideal client is 3. Have the proof to back it up If you’ve won pitches on Breef, drop some tips for other agencies below on what works for you! #agencygrowth #businessdevelopment #agencylife 

Six-figure agencies are wasting their money investing in lead magnets, complicated funnels and hiring junior sales reps to cold call... Getting to seven figures is actually very simple. (I said simple, not easy) Here's a major reframe that has helped some of our clients DOUBLE their revenue in less than 90 days. Focus business development on relationships...not sales. What does this actually mean...? Invest in building connections with 4 categories of people: 1. Prospective Clients 2. Existing and Past Clients 3. Collaborators who work with your clients in a different way 4. Advocates who influence your clients If you can expand these relationships, you will increase your revenue. Relationships fuel your business. Stop viewing outreach as sales - it's about connection Stop viewing discovery calls as sales - it's about chemistry Stop viewing proposals as sales - it's about partnership If you're stuck investing in the wrong things and can't seem to grow, let me walk you through examples of how my clients have completely changed their approach to business development to get better clients. DM for a link to my calendar. 🔗 • • • • #businessgrowth #businesscoaching #agency #agencygrowth #businesstransformation #sixfigurebusiness #sixfiguremindset #agencycoach #smallbusinesscoach

How should you respond when a prospective client says "I don't have time to connect on a call. Go ahead and send the proposal."? Well first, let's unpack what they mean by that first...it's likely one of these: 1. I don't have a budget yet and am price shopping so I can figure out what my budget should be 2. I'm not looking for an expert or partner to collaborate with on my business, I am looking for an executor 3. I'm not actually invested in this work, someone senior told me to get a few proposals Here's how you should respond to that: "We're an agency built on partnerships. Our best work comes from working with the right type of client and for that reason, we choose our clients as much as they choose us. For us, proposals are a formality and if you're interested in a proposal from us, we'd like to start with a conversation to see if we're a good fit for each other. If you're interested in learning more about us in the meantime, here is a link to our website and social pages." Take this template and make it your own - but stop investing in prospects who are making no investment in you. You're better than that. Most of those prospects will not turn into clients. Not because they found someone else, but in most cases like these, the project never happened. Protect your time! #agency #newbusiness #businessdevelopment

Sustainable growth for agencies is a long game. It's about consistent decisions that serve the business in the long term (and usually in the short term too). It's about prioritizing working with the right clients at the right time to bring out the best in you and your team. But getting there doesn't happen overnight...it's a progression. Which is why most of my engagements span 4-6+ months. BUT I did create a new offer (that is a slight evolution of an "off menu" offer) that supports agencies in making those right decisions when it's especially hard to do so. - In slow seasons - In shifting times (resignations, economic downturn...) They're called Blueprint Sessions and they're focused on finding the 3 roadblocks that are in getting in the way to growth. I was doing these with my incubator clients as a first step to onboarding and my clients were getting so much value out of them before we even started working together - so I decided to open up two sessions per quarter. Here's what we covered in a recent Blueprint Session with a client: 🔄 Reframed her offer 3️⃣ Came up with 3 different revenue streams (providing her with different paths to reach her goals) ⬆️ Increased her prices by 50% 🏁 Gave her tangible monthly and quarterly goals to work towards 💰 Came up with 3 ways she can generate revenue before the end of the month If you’re interested I have 2 spaces for a Growth Blueprint Session in Q2. Send me a DM and I’ll send you more info to book your session. • • • • #AgencyLife #DigitalMarketingAgency #CreativeAgency #MarketingStrategy #AgencyGrowth #SEOAgency #SocialMediaMarketing #ContentMarketing #BrandStrategy

People hire people. Your clients are not hiring agency brands, they are hiring the people behind the brand. A recognizable agency brand and newsworthy portfolio can get you a call...but it's not what wins the client over. What wins the client is the chemistry between your team and the client. They are thinking... Does this person get my business and my challenges? Is this person bringing up ideas I had never considered? Are they listening (really listening) and asking smart questions?  Am I getting energized by what they are saying? Do they seem passionate and informed about the work they say they do? It's not the logos on your website.  It's not a case study for a project you did 5 years ago. It's not the animations in your creds deck (hopefully we've moved on from this). And those things are where agencies are investing all their time and energy.  Instead of investing so much time in that stuff, invest your time in gathering some intel on the client before you speak to them. Invest your time in coming up with thoughtful questions to ask.  You can spend the entire call asking great questions and NOT talking about yourself or about ANY of your past work and you'd get a lot further. Focus on the relationship. And if you're not sure how, DM me for a link to book your 20 min. slot during my next Agency Office Hours. I have so many techniques that will increase your ability to convert the right clients - without getting ghosted and without being just another option.

Having a brand and voice on Linkedin is going to be the future of resumes in my opinion.  I knew that in my last agency role leading marketing - and that's why when I started my business, authentic content was a core part of my business development strategy (and still is).  There are different ways you can go about this as an agency...but showing up is non-negotiable. You have to show up if you want to get found. For agencies looking to start building their brand on Linkedin, here are a couple of ideas: 💬 Building your Founder or agency brand via thought leadership (take all the advice you give clients and your team, capture it and share it on a social platform that feels most comfortable to you); If you can't do it yourself, hire a ghostwriter, I have a few I highly recommend.  👥 General networking with peers, industry voices, clients (participate in the conversation and have a voice) 🤝 Build relationships that fuel your growth (via advocates, peers, collaborators, prospective clients, current and past clients) 💡 Inspiration and insights (from following prospective clients on what matters, what's trending, what language they are using, and what's urgent for them) 🗣️ Marketing your agency (your work, your philosophies, your niche) I find a lot of the Founders I work with are afraid to show up because they think they have to do it in a certain way. And I get it, it's intimidating showing up here (especially if you're not backed by a big company).   You should show up in a way that makes YOU feel most comfortable - and be authentic about it. There is no one way to build your brand on here. And being true to yourself will attract the right relationships for your business. (Comment below if you're looking for connections to ghostwriters ✍️)