Agency Intensive

From Store Owner to Agency Owner, Chris Thomas has seen and heard it all. He is a self confessed agency hater and fell into the agency world by chance.  He has developed his agency to ensure that the constant frustration and disappointment he felt with his agency partners doesn’t happen with his clients.  Chris acknowledges that the success of an agency comes down to the people. Your staff are your product, they are the ones that clients buy in to and deliver the service. Therefore, shaping a growth culture is one of his biggest priorities as an Agency Owner.  He shares the decisions he has made over the years to impact the culture positively, how he engages his staff to retain them and how hiring superstars has yielded success. His day 1 and day 2 team are still working with him and that definitely accounts for something.  Does your team talk about salaries? A heavily debated topic in the business world. Chris shares how he manages expectations by having transparent salary bands across the agency.  Find out how he has changed his tech stack for efficiency, what he is using now for optimum productivity and what past software he is retiring.  Everyone knows that being an Agency Owner is a rollercoaster of emotions, with a lot of ups and downs. Chris has transformed his life over the last few years by focusing on his holistic health and most importantly, his sleep quality. He shares how you can do this too!  It’s time to innovate, deliver and delight your clients for success. Be two steps ahead of them. Embrace failure and engage in Black Box thinking.   Topics covered:  00:23 - How he went from Store Owner to Agency Owner  04:39 - Skepticism of the traditional agency model 11:32 - How focusing on a niche has yielded success for his agency  14:31 - Innovation and change vital for staff retention 18:25 - Black Box Thinking 22:30 - Retailers faced challenges in 2022 and adapted. 25:29 - His opinion on the impact of events  28:55 - Anticipate client needs for successful marketing strategy - be two steps ahead of them  30:46 - Retain clients and grow their business  34:04 - Building client relationships leads to mutual success and referrals  38:40 - Project management software: Switching to Teamwork, retiring Asana for 2024 41:15 - Launching new products, supporting businesses in 2024 43:01- Business and health book recommendations for success

It’s the age old saying, people don’t care about you, they care about what you can do for them. It’s the truth.  And that’s exactly Richard Mawer’s mantra when it comes to agency growth. Put your clients first and you will inevitably win. Build a product that answers their pain points. Talk to them how and when they want to be spoken to. Listen, adapt and improve.  Richard has been growing agencies longer than some of our team have been alive and he shares how you can too. Listen to this episode as he shares how to nurture lead from initial interest to client, his tools & tech stack that keeps him organised and how to build trust in the crazy world of partnerships. We all know that if you hire and promote the right people to deliver a good service, you can grow your business.  Topics Covered: 00:00 - Richard’s extensive experience in the agency realm  03:29 - Sponsorship led to unexpected virtual agency development 07:13 - Being remarkable and differentiating attracts bigger money 11:33 - Focus, depth and determination led to success 14:28 - Experience positions and quality attracts interest 17:40 - Identify heroes, serve, engage, and promote. 22:27 - Strategic mindset and specific growth goals approach. 23:38 - Managing clients, converting leads and proposition  26:11 - Initial call focused on prospect's goals 31:30 - Agencies should prioritise transparency with clients 33:11 - Balancing costs and tools for agency retainers 36:03 - Customised reports provide vital information for teams 40:40 - Stepping back and focusing on high-value work 42:27 - Challenges of retaining staff in a changing work environment 45:42 - Entrepreneur focuses on scaling consultancy business effectively 49:48 - Podcasting, interviewing, live streams - powerful networking tools 52:14 - Tool for success

Turning down clients is the best thing that you can do to grow your agency. Sounds counterproductive right?  But, that’s exactly what led to Rise at Seven’s impressive growth. Love or hate them, you can’t argue with the fact that they dominate the Digital PR & Search Agency space. From day one, they were working with big and established global brands. Clearly they were doing a lot of things right.  But, growing a business to £7M a year doesn’t come without its challenges.  Stephen Kenwright is generous enough to share an honest and unfiltered account of Rise at Seven’s rollercoaster journey to the top on this podcast.  He touches on recruitment, marketing, targeting, positioning, whether industry awards are just smoke and mirrors, how to attract your ideal client, exiting Rise at Seven and what’s next for his career. If you are an ambitious agency owner who wants to scale, this episode is for you.  Topics covered:  00:00 - His agency background 05:57 - Positioning, marketing and recruitment  08:50 - Client perspectives 12:24 - Identifying potential clients and their fit, commercially and culturally 14:16 - Client budgets and partnerships 22:30 - Identifying key hires for company culture 25:21 - Managing talent is challenging  26:56 - Late hiring of HR caused a flood of issues 32:05 - Balance between human and commercial factors and the value of awards for agency owners 34:24 - Rise strives to prove an SEO agency can compete creatively with the best 38:58 - Why Kenwright exited Rise at Seven 42:17 - Advice for Agency Owners…get a good accountant  45:44 - 18 months of change, renovating, catching up and mini MBAs 49:11 - Kenwright’s next steps  50:19 - Book recommendation 

Is this podcast worth listening to? Listen to this short trailer episode to find out whether these honest conversations will add value to your life.