Agency Growth is the main topic here and this is a very tip heavy podcast, so make sure you have your pen and paper at the ready. Peter Czapp, Co-Founder of The Wow Company and The Agency Collective, and the man behind the agency BenchPress report talks to Katie about lots of stats and facts surrounding new business and agencies, including just how agencies have really fared in the midst of a global pandemic! There is a debate around the dual challenge of creating growth while maintaining profitability and the subject of marketing agencies own marketing plans comes into the conversation too.

In this episode we discuss:

• What is your measure of success?
• How to get your agency to work for you
• Agency growth and habits
• Consultancy vs Agencies
• Agency Profit
• Impact and Strategy

Word on the Street is sponsored by Tanba, The Agency New Business Academy, is a brand-new initiative aimed at equipping agencies of all sizes with the knowledge, content, partnerships and opportunities needed to accelerate agency growth by optimising their new business ‘engine’. Tanba is an on-demand and affordable solution for agencies looking to upskill their team via training courses, content and insights delivered by our panel of industry experts, leaders, and partners.   

Visit https://tanba.io/ to find out more and start empowering your agency. 

“49% saw fee income increase, which is incredible in the middle of a pandemic” – Peter Czapp [05:43]

“The most important thing for your agency is that your agency works for you” – Peter Czapp [07:36]

“Money isn’t everything” – Peter Czapp [08:15]

“If you are consistently growing by more than 50% year on year, so that means if you’re £500,000 agency you’ll do £750,000 next year and then another 50% year after, only 16% agencies manage to do that” – Peter Czapp [09:09]

“The real challenge is to achieve that level of growth, whilst also achieving a gross profit of 50% or more” – Peter Czapp [10:15]

“Much better to have an agency that is turning over £500,000 that is profiting, than it is to have £1 million agency with lots of staff and lots of stress that’s making 15% profit” – Katie Street [11:20]

“I heard a lot of agencies say; “we’re gonna go for growth and worry about profitability down the line”” – Peter Czapp [11:41]

“This isn’t about being greedy” – Peter Czapp [13:38]

“The absolute best leveler for profitability analysis is your gross profit percentage” – Peter Czapp [15:15]

“There is far too many agencies that are not thinking about value” – Peter Czapp [18:08]

“I’ve got to prove to my clients that I’m going to help them attract and win new clients for their business” – Katie Street [19:29]

“I personally believe you need to show impact and the commercial strategy” – Katie Street [21:11]

“There’s lots of different ways that you can niche’” – Katie Street [24:51]

“What percentage of agencies are actually able to get the clients budget out of them” – Peter Czapp [26:03]

“People get scared to ask, they don’t want to upset them” – Katie Street [29:56]

“There’s not enough agencies out there giving clients the choice when it comes top their proposals” – Peter Czapp [34:10]

“He talks about the benefits of 3 pricing options” – Peter Czapp [35:10]

“I love hearing the stories of agencies that are willing to step outside their comfort zone” – Peter Czapp [37:18]

“It totally stops them discounting” – Katie Street [38:28]

“If you find yourself in a situation where you absolutely have to discount, it’s so important you get something in return” – Peter Czapp [43:28]

“One area that everyone seems to forget is their people” – Peter Czapp [46:14]

“Profitability is a lagging indicator, money in the back is a lagging indicator, tells you all the stuff that has happened. Leading indicators tell you what’s gonna happen.” – Peter Czapp [48:09]

“On average agencies win new business worth 6 times their marketing spend” – Peter Czapp [55:54]

“If you are not spending money on your marketing, then please go and do so” – Katie Street [58:47]