The Agency Growth Blog - For Owners Who Want Growth

You finally landed that new client. That in and of itself was a huge accomplishment but now the hard work is starting. How do you make sure your new client gets an amazing experience from the very minute they sign until they become a new advocate for you, your team and your agency?

Isn’t that the point? Why onboard a new client if they’re not going to help you tell your story? Why spend so much time and so much energy trying to get your new client leads and new customers if they’re not going to be an advocate for your agency?

Inbound marketing agency owners, welcome to one of the most challenging aspects of agency life. You need new customers to drive the agency growth but if you take everyone who comes along, you’ll be working with clients who never appreciate what you do, who never let you execute a profitable engagement, who never refer you and who consistently drive your team crazy.

It becomes a very difficult decision. Do you walk away from someone who wants to hire your inbound agency? Or do we take them on and try to turn this into a referenceable engagement. The best way to manage this is to understand what to look for during the sales process so you can limit the risk associated with bringing on challenging clients.

At Square 2 Marketing my role has evolved into more of a leader, mentor and visionary as opposed to day to day client service consultant. However, for years I ran engagements, oversaw multiple client engagements and then ran the entire inbound agency client services team. I know how challenging it is to work with clients. But over the years, I found the key to successful client engagements.

For an inbound marketing agency owner, and now for Square 2 Marketing’s consultants, the secret is the personal relationship we form with our clients. There are so many different styles for this relationship and I’ve probably tried them all. You can be professional, casual, advisory, coach or consultant. But what always worked best for me was to treat our clients the same way I treat a friend. Talk to them like I talk to my best friends and work through challenges, just like you would with a friend.

Welcome to the most significant challenge facing inbound marketing agency owners. It’s not staffing, it’s not sales, it’s not hiring and it’s not finance. The most significant challenge facing us all is helping our new and existing clients understand what to expect from an inbound marketing engagement.

For all of you who are positive you’re setting these upfront during the sales process, guess again. After 13 years of selling inbound marketing engagements of all shapes and sizes to clients of all shapes and sizes they rarely hear what you’re saying to them.

In fact, I’m sure that most inbound marketing agency clients don’t hear anything other than the magic word—leads.