The power of meaningful conversations for agency growth
Chip Griffin
Helping agency owners build businesses they want to own | Agency growth coach & consultant | Podcaster | Photographer
If you want to successfully grow your agency, you need to focus on having meaningful conversations.
But what does that mean and why does it work?
I'll explain later in this week's newsletter, but first let's look at what Jen has rounded up for us this week.
— Chip Griffin, SAGA Founder
P.S. Will you take 5 minutes to complete the Q1 Agency Owner Survey?
Weekly Roundup
Below are some articles, blog posts, podcasts, and videos that we came across during the past week or so that provide useful perspective and information for PR and marketing agency owners. While we don’t necessarily endorse all of the views expressed in these links, we think they are worth your time.
— Jen Griffin, SAGA Community Manager
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The power of meaningful conversations for agency growth
Agency owners love to ask what metrics that they should be tracking as they seek to grow their agencies.
Many experts suggest looking at pipeline size, conversion rates, number of daily calls/emails, or similar traditional sales metrics.
Instead, I would suggest your goal should be to track how many meaningful conversations you have -- particularly with people who could be clients or who are able to refer potential clients to you.
But what exactly is a meaningful conversation?
Most of us have countless conversations each week, either one-on-one or in group meetings. The vast majority of these are highly transactional and matter-of-fact.
While these conversations are often necessary (and even productive), they aren't particularly meaningful.
When it comes to business development, the classic approach agencies take is to whip out a capabilities deck and rattle off everything we can do and talk about our great team, the impressive logos we serve, and the wins we have had for clients.
It's a lot of talking without much listening or legitimate engagement.
Meaningful conversations, on the other hand, focus on open dialogue between the participants. As an agency leader, you need to be curious. Ask questions and then be an active listener.
These are not sales conversations. In fact, the best meaningful conversations take place when you don't have an expected outcome of any kind.
Your goal should be to have these meaningful conversations with people you already know (but want to deepen your relationship with) or individuals you would like to get to know.
In addition to being curious and listening, you should be prepared to share openly (and freely) of yourself and your expertise.
Rather than puffing yourself and your agency up, share some insight or knowledge that might benefit the other party. Find ways to be helpful -- perhaps by introducing them to others.
You can increase the number of meaningful conversations you have by actively engaging in existing communities (in-person or online) so that people want to connect with you.
But you can also conduct more proactive outreach -- again, without any sales intent -- where you share resources or ask legitimate questions (not the phony questions we all get by email every day that are barely disguised sales pitches).
You can also initiate conversations by inviting someone to be a guest on your podcast or requesting an interview for an article or research that you are doing.
None of this is about funnels or pitches or proposals.
But if you are having meaningful conversations with prospects and peers, it will naturally open the door to more business opportunities.
And that leads to agency growth.
Take the Q1 Agency Owner Survey and Annual Business Review
Are you curious about how how your agency stacked up against the performance of your peers in 2024? Then you’ll want to take our?Q1 Small Agency Owner Survey!
Each quarter, we ask for your feedback on how things are going generally and what the future looks like. Our Q1 survey also includes the Annual Business Review that takes a deeper look at how small agencies performed last year.
The survey will close on March 14, 2025 with the findings released in late March. Your participation means you will receive a detailed report of its findings, with a more limited set of results released publicly.
Ready to take the survey??It only takes about 5 minutes.?Click here to participate!
Delegation for control freaks: How to let go and trust your team
Do you find yourself constantly redoing your employees’ work? Do projects slow down because everything needs your approval? If you struggle to delegate, you’re not alone—but holding onto too much can stall your agency’s growth and leave you feeling overwhelmed.
In this webinar, Chip Griffin will help agency owners break free from the micromanagement trap. You’ll learn how to identify which tasks you should be delegating, how to set expectations so work gets done the right way the first time, and how to create accountability without feeling like you have to oversee every detail.
To join us for?Delegation for control freaks: How to let go and trust your team?at 1 PM ET on Tuesday, March 25,?register here.