In this content series, Scale and Thrive: Growth Insights for Agencies, by Agencies, we share proven tips and insights from agencies who scaled their operation and delivered proven growth. This blog post was written by Orel Y. Shalom, a successful agency owner with over a decade of experience in the field. Over the years, Orel has led more than 70 employees, producing over 10,000 websites for clients in a wide range of verticals.
Every agency wants to boost its business and find new clients. The main question is, what is the best way to approach this goal? In my experience, many agencies find the notion of paid advertising campaigns intimidating, as it involves a certain level of financial risk. While this doesn’t mean you should abandon the idea, starting out by looking at the channels you already own is a wiser choice.
Maximizing your existing resources seems obvious, but I often meet agency managers who overlook some of the possibilities or are unfamiliar with the various opportunities they miss out on. That's a shame because, in addition to reducing the risk, these resources are often much more effective and can offer valuable insights regarding the agency’s target audience.
Here’s my proven approach to help you make the most out of what you already have.
There’s no such thing as an irrelevant lead. My team knows that any connection offers a platform for lead generation.
The best example is leads who didn’t turn into clients. There are many possible reasons behind their decision, and most have nothing to do with the impression you left. Perhaps their budget is different, they need other services, or the timing wasn’t right. Either way, asking them at the end of your call to think of any leads they can connect you with is a clever move.
How? Generally speaking, there’s no rule of thumb. Every person is different, and your team should match the question to the conversation’s vibe.
Still, one solid tip would be to offer them certain benefits during the call, and then ask if they would like to pass this opportunity on to others, even if they aren’t interested in using your services.
First, there’s a much bigger chance that they’ll dedicate a minute or two to think about relevant contacts. Second, they might refuse to pass it on by sharing the real reason they chose to say no to you.
For instance, a potential client claimed that your agency isn’t a good fit because they require different services, but when asked about introducing your benefit to their network, said that your rates are too high for businesses in their field.
Realizing the growth potential of any interaction will form the basis for a new state of mind you and your team should embrace to maximize business opportunities.
Speaking of asking your network to spread the word, I believe that this is the most fundamental step to take as an agency. By now, you’ve built a network of clients, vendors, and industry connections.
We all know how impactful word of mouth is in building trust and encouraging prospective clients to choose your agency. When it comes to website building, businesses seek to collaborate with trustworthy vendors, making recommendations more essential than ever. Personal experiences and positive reviews significantly shorten the decision-making cycle and encourage prospective clients to choose you.
I always ask for written or video testimonials and reviews, and share them on my digital channels and website.
Reaching out to your network and asking to share their positive experience can do wonders. You can encourage that by creating a designed banner for social media, congratulating your client for their new website. They are likely to share it with their audience as well.
Go the extra mile by making a similar banner as a gift for your client’s digital channels, enabling them to easily invite their audience to visit the website. Include a subtle agency logo in the designed image and suggest the text to accompany the image in which your agency is mentioned.
Make the recommendation process as easy as possible. If you want clients to send you a video testimonial via WhatsApp, for instance, don’t wait for them to add you as a connection on the app and do so yourself. These seemingly little steps often deter people from following through with their plans.
Not sure whether or not a client wants to recommend your agency? That’s precisely what NPS surveys are for. This focused survey features one simple yet critical question: Would you recommend our business to others? My tip is to add a blank space inviting clients to share their thoughts and mention anything else they have in mind. The insights you’ll receive from this will be constructive.
Those who answered “yes” should get a personal call from your team, asking for recommendations. Offer help phrasing the testimonials, and kindly ask them to share their review on their digital channels as well.
Your team should also approach those who offered negative feedback to find out what happened and how you can turn their experience into a positive one. Finally, clients who ignored your survey should be placed on your list for follow-up calls when the team has time to boost sales and expand your outreach.
Timing is everything, and knowing when to ask for recommendations is important. Don’t approach clients immediately after their new website is ready. First, there’s a good chance they’re still swamped with tasks related to this major project. Second, they might not realize just how impressive your capabilities truly are. Give them time to adjust to the new website and discover the benefits of choosing your agency. After a few weeks go by, you can approach the lead via email and present your survey.
You want your network to keep your agency in mind in the long run. The best way to stay relevant is to offer value. Keep nurturing the relationship by creating content, offering advice, and showing you care.
I find that getting network members to share your articles, newsletters, and social media posts can be just as good as writing reviews. If you’re worried about investing time in content creation, keep in mind that multiple procedures can be automated and outsourced nowadays.
During the holiday season, for instance, prepare a customized banner for each client, automating the process of personalizing the company logo. Your clients will appreciate the initiative, and the designed banner will also include a subtle mention of your agency.
Putting a certain process in place once and automating it will nurture business relationships and generate new leads without demanding further work on your end.
Automation brings us to this next tip. It’s easy to put lead generation on the back burner and treat it as a wishful nice-to-have process. To actually achieve this goal, consider it a must-have, allocate time and thought to build this process, and repeat it without exception.
Every single team member should know that a project isn’t done until customer feedback is collected and turned into recommendations and reviews. Consider inquiring whether your clients could leave a review, or better yet, recommend your agency’s services to any other potential prospects. In my experience, it’s a proven recipe for scaling a business.
Ask about the number of leads collected during team meetings. Across your agency, everyone should consider this an integral part of their work and know that their success is tightly connected to lead generation.
Another way to ensure your lead-oriented tasks aren’t overlooked is to make life easier and automate them as much as possible. Your NPS survey, for example, can be created once and sent automatically to any client. A follow-up email can also be automated based on their response. Your CRM system should be ready to trigger the flow once a website is up and schedule the follow-up NPS email for a few weeks after.
Make it easy for clients to find your agency by posting your services on the long list of suitable marketplaces out there. A few examples I suggest looking into include Fiverr, Upwork, Guru, and others. Start by properly mapping the marketplaces and creating an attractive profile featuring your services portfolio.
These websites are another excellent place to post recommendations and reviews given by happy clients. Update your profile when a new prominent client is added to the list. You want marketplace visitors to know that your agency is active and thriving.
Look for marketplaces in specific markets that can be a good fit for your business. For instance, if website design is one of your top services, having your work featured on websites like Dribble or Behance can be beneficial. If tech startups are your audience of choice, offering website audits on Clarity may form connections that turn into clients.
There are countless ways to connect with people and expand your circle of leads, partners, and business acquaintances. Attend meetups and sign up for websites that recommend get-togethers in your region. Join social media communities, networking groups, and WhatsApp groups in your arena. You’ll learn a lot while generating leads and forming lucrative business ties.
You don’t have to be an active, contributing member in every group (nor do you have time to do so). Focus on groups that prove to be worthy of your time and energy. For me, collaborating with local trade chambers worked wonders and opened the door to entire niches at once.
If the above list feels overwhelming, I want to remind you that most of these steps are one-and-done, while the value they offer is ongoing. You can keep some of these tips for slow days, but others (like asking clients for feedback) should become second nature.
Persistently following these insights will significantly boost your client pool, enhance your agency’s industry reputation, provide insights regarding your target audience, and keep you on the right track to success. Play the cards you already have to win big.
Did you find any new ideas you’re planning to use? Got any tips of your own to share? We’d love to hear your thoughts. Join the conversation on LinkedIn.
