Supercharge Digital Agency Growth with Amazing Leadership

Struggling to win new agency business in order to supercharge growth? Stuck working in the business and unable to step back in order to work on the business? Your role as an agency leader is always evolving as the agency grows. But your #1 job is being an amazing leader and giving your team the guidance, support and leadership they need.

In this episode, we’ll cover:

• How to win new agency business by building relationships.
• #1 way to supercharge digital agency growth.
• 3 tips for being an amazing digital agency leader.

Today, I talked with Steve Weiss, Co-founder of MuteSix — a Facebook ad agency. Steve moved to Los Angeles, CA to do standup comedy and instead ended up creating a digital agency. Four years later and he is now running an 8-figure agency with over 130 employees! So, how does a comedian transition to a massively successful agency owner….?  “Did you ever hear the one about the wildly successful agency owner?” No? Well, stick around for the punch line as Steve shares his story including the top 3 tips for being a better agency leader 🙂

How to Win New Agency Business By Building Relationships

As agency owners, we always want to win the pitch and land new business. You get in the room with the prospect and you want to tell them you can handle anything. You’re willing to do anything and be anything in order to win a pitch. But that never ends well, does it? In Steve’s case, he uses humor (remember, he’s a former standup comedian!) to his benefit…

It’s ok to tell a prospect you don’t know how to do something. Be the authority in a specific niche – horizontal and/or vertical.  When they ask for something outside of your skillset, be honest or use humor like Steve. For example, he tells prospects that SEO is like “black magic” to him, but what he’s really good at it Facebook ads. And, he tells them his agency crushes Facebook ads; there’s no one better at Facebook ads. His honesty and a bit of humor builds trust and creates the foundation for a relationship.

In fact, it can be the secret to winning the pitch. If you’re candid with them, they’re going to respect you more for it. We can all smell a sales pitch from a mile away. So can your prospects. When you start bragging, they know you’re desperate for the sale. Be truthful, honest, and win business with ideal clients who appreciate who you are.

They’ll believe you when you tell them what you’re actually good at. So, instead of trying to convince clients you’re “full service” even though you aren’t, think about flipping the script. Be honest with them. And, use that honesty to form a great relationship.

#1 Way to Supercharge Digital Agency Growth

Want to know the secret to accelerate digital agency growth? You can’t do it alone ~ you need a team 🙂 Empowering your team is one of the easiest ways to achieve fast growth. If you hired right, your team is filled with skill and talent. You want is to be the smartest person in the room. Hire people who are smarter and better than you are and reap the benefits of supercharging your agency’s growth.

Believe me, if I would have been the smartest person at my digital agency, we would have never gotten anywhere!

Steve says to give your team some room to grow and dominate projects on their own. And, always put your team ahead of revenue. Clients come-and-go. Good team members don’t. It’s hard to find people who fit into your culture, understand your vision, and have the passion to create results on their own. Your team is your biggest asset so treat them as such.

Being a leader isn’t all about you, your agency, and your vision… It’s about providing opportunity and a pathway for growth and fulfillment. When you’re a great leader that alone can be fulfilling for you. Leadership is a win-win.

3 Tips for Being an Amazing Digital Agency Leader

1. Lead by example.

Don’t tell your team how to win, show them how. As a digital agency owner, all eyes are on you. Yes, it can be stressful, but showing leadership by example is a good way to empower your team. Recognize your team’s strengths and make sure you’re continually developing those, rather than focusing on their weaknesses. Let your team shine by showing them how to become even better with your own leadership.

2. Don’t try to please everyone.

Don’t be the people pleaser. You have to know when to say no. And you should always be willing to bring up issues with your team. Try to be friendly and have fun with your team, for sure. But, at the end of the day, you still have to be respected as the leader and not just another guy or gal on the team.

3. Learn how to fire.

You should never have to motivate an employee. It’s ok to inspire them, but motivation needs to come from within. Share the vision with them to inspire. Show them how they’re part of something bigger and how their role creates a residual effect on clients and your clients’ clients.  That’s inspiring! But if you’ve got someone who needs constant motivation, then it’s probably time to fire them. It’s not as hard as it sounds and eliminating dead weight will actually benefit the rest of the team and the overall culture.

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Building Your Agency

I hope that this has provided a strong insight into how having strong leadership can build and supercharge your agency. But what other issues can you now focus on to improve and grow your business further?

Through my own experience as as agency owner, I have experienced all if not most of the different struggles you are going through and I can help you. Whether it’s how to deal with bad agency clients, the process of developing agency products as well as how you can build authority for your agency.

If it’s challenges growing your business that you are experiencing, I have agency growth hacks, the best ways to improve management of your business as well as why building a remote team can be beneficial in the long run.

As well as this, you can learn more about my career as well as tips, tricks and insights by checking out my blogs that cover a wide variety of topics.

I also hear the experience and advice from other successful agency experts in my Ask Swenk series and more of my videos on my Youtube channel.