7 strategies to avoid Feast or Famine in your agency

Feast or famine is a regular topic of conversation with my private clients and my group coaching program and many of the communities that I support. And Indeed, in my 14 years of running my coaching practice, Da Costa Coaching I've been through the feast and famine cycle twice and was determined that I wasn't going to go through it a third time. So what is it and what can you do about it? And let me share seven strategies to make sure that you never go into famine again. And that's what today's episode of the Agency Accelerator Podcast is all about. And you'll leave with seven key strategies that you can really immediately start implementing that will stave you off heading into famine or indeed if you're in a space of famine now because we're in crazy times, then it's going to help you come out of it. So that's what we're talking about today. And let's get on with today's episode of the Agency Accelerator Podcast. Accelerate your agency's profitable growth with tools, tips and value added interviews with your host agency owner and coach Rob DaCosta. Today's episode of the Agency Accelerator Podcast is sponsored by Cloudways. Loved by agencies around the world, Cloudways is a managed cloud hosting platform that takes care of all the web hosting related complexities, leaving users free to focus on growing their businesses and clients. The platform offers unmatched performance, reliability, choice and 247365 support that acts as an extension to your own team, making Cloudways the ultimate choice for growing agencies. Now at present Cloudways is offering an exclusive discount for the Agency Accelerator listeners. So visit cloudways.com and use the promo code AA20. That's AA20 to get a discount of 20% off your first three months on the hosting platform of your choice. Okay, on with today's show. So let's start this episode by painting a picture. So you are super busy serving your clients. In fact, you're stuck on the client service hamster wheel of doom with no time to breathe, working really long days just to keep your current clients happy. And you may well be over servicing them, although that's another story for another episode. But at the back of your mind you know that you need to allocate some time to work on your agency and that means focusing on your marketing and on your business development and your client retention and growth. But you just don't have the headspace or the time to even think about this. Then fast forward a bit of time and some projects come to an end, often through no fault of your own. And suddenly you are staring at gaps in your income. Now you've still got the same costs, and of course you're at the back of the queue to get paid. So you've got to pay your expenses, you've got to pay your team and then pay you, but you may not have now enough money coming in the door. And because you've been so focused on client service, you've had no time to fill the top or on the middle of your sales pipeline. And of course, at this point, you regret having not focused on business development when you were stuck on that client service hamster wheel of doom. And now you scramble around to try and fill in your order book. And often when that happens, we make really bad decisions, like discounting work to get to get work on our books again to fill those gaps or taking on any kind of client. And of course, those types of clients who don't fit in our ideal target client category are really difficult to keep happy. So we end up over servicing them. That causes all sorts of stress and pressures in the agency. So if you can relate to any of that, then, you know, put your hands up, because I certainly can. And I've been there before, both when I ran my agency and most recently over the past 14 years when I've been coaching. I have been through that cycle twice. So I totally understand that it is a really painful place to be. And to be honest, after the second time it happened to me, I had a bit of a conversation with myself and said, like, Rob, how many times do you want this really painful place to be? You know, at the time, I didn't have enough money to pay the bills. And yes, it did take me two times to learn this lesson. So if you've ever been there before, I hope you've learned some lessons from it. And if you haven't been there before, then please pay attention to this because it will help you stop getting into that place of famine. So that's what I really mean by feast or famine. Feast is when we are in and we have an abundance of clients, we've got no time to think about anything but client work. And then we tumble into a place of famine. And when we're in famine, we're staring at an empty order book, the numbers don't add up, and. And that's when we make poor decisions. So in this episode of the Agency Accelerator podcast, I want to share with you seven strategies for avoiding going from feast to famine once and for all so that you can get a consistent pipeline of new business coming into your agency whilst doing a great job serving your existing clients. And when a client project comes to an end or a client changes their strategy and decides to leave you, you have new projects waiting in the wings to replace them. And you can make business decisions based on the fact that you can see future revenue for your agency. And of course, you're going to avoid heading into that very stressful place of famine. So let's look at the seven strategies. Now, these are just seven things that I thought of fairly quickly and I suspect I could probably come up with 17 strategies. But these are seven strategies that I think are really important and they are strategies I share with my private coaching clients and help them implement. So number one is to make sure that you ring fence time to work on business development. No matter how busy you get servicing clients, you need to change your mindset so that you think that you personally only have a set amount of time to allocate to client work. Now, sometimes clients sort of bulk at this idea, but I say to them, look, do you go on holiday when we're allowed to, of course, or do you take the weekends off? And I hope the answer is, yes, they do. And of course, if they do that, then they've already got an example where they have ring fence time that they're not going to be serving clients. So you now just need to play that same strategy into your week and say, for example, that one day a week is completely ring fenced to work on your business development, which means your sales, your marketing, your client retention, your content and so on. Now, it might be more than one day, it might be two days, depends what the structure of your team is. But you need a minimum of one day. So let's just assume that it is one day. That means you only have four days to fit your client work in. Now this ties in with strategy number seven. So let's listen to all of these strategies strategies in context before we start thinking about how we can make them work. So number one is to ring fence some time to work on business development and make that time sacrosanct, no matter how busy you get with client work. So the second strategy I want to talk about is really getting clear on exactly who your ideal target customer is. So when you are finding those clients, you're doing your business development and then of course serving them, you can do a great job for them because you really understand them, they really respect the work that you're doing because they understand you, you have a great relationship with them. And if you get really clear on who your ideal target customer is. It makes your sales and marketing so much easier because you can create very specific messages that will really hit home with your ideal target customer rather than sort of using generic messages that kind of everybody uses and misses the mark. So you want to get clear on your ideal target customer and there's two things that you need to do to do that. First of all, you need to work out what your niche is and the second thing you need to do then define your customer avatar or your ideal target customer. Now, I'm not going to go into too much detail because I've talked all about niching before in episode six of the Agency Accelerator podcast and I am going to be recording an episode in a few weeks to do with defining your ideal target customer. But also I have two workbooks that I'm going to include links in the show notes to that will help you both with your niching and with defining your customer avatar or your ideal target customer. These are both free, so please download them if you want more help with this. But if you get really clear on who your ideal target customer is and your niche, then it will become much easier to find them and work out the messaging that will really resonate them when you allocate that day or week to working on your business development and what follows on for that is my third strategy which is all about getting your pricing right. We have a fantastic episode coming up next week where we are talking all about finance, profitability, margins and pricing. And there are some really brilliant tips around pricing in that episode. So make sure you tune in next week for that interview with Marcel Pepibas. Now, one of the things that he said that I really liked is that if you have a really high win rate. So for example, let's say you win 90% of the business that you pitch for or the clients that you talk to, then it's a good indication that your pricing is too low and that's a good time to increase your pricing. But if you get if you understand exactly who your ideal target customer is and the pains that you're solving for them, it becomes much easier to get your pricing right. Take a value pricing approach, a value selling approach, so that you're focused on the outcomes that they want rather than the time that you invest. And that will be one of the strategies that is going to help you step out of a place of famine because you will have allocated time, you will understand your niche and ideal target customer. You will have got your pricing right that is aligned with that niche and that ideal target customer. And so the next thing you want to do, which is strategy number four, is you want to build a robust business development plan. And by that I mean fundamentally a marketing plan. So this is content that you're going to create, that you're going to get out there, and then a strategy for moving those people through your sales funnel. So they go from getting to know you, getting to like you, getting to buy from you. So fundamentally, in your business development strategy, you need three things. And I always tell my clients that they're three places that a prospect will be in your world. And the first stage is discovering you, so they get to know you. They go, okay, you sound really interesting. I'm going to start following you. Then the second stage is where you've really started to impart value through your marketing. And now they're thinking, you really know what you're talking about. And one day I'm going to buy from you. And then the third stage is someone who follows your content. They like you and trust you, and they're now ready to buy from you. And you need to make sure that your business development plan is moving people through that customer journey. And my advice to you is do a few things and do them really well. I've really narrowed down what I am doing because I am starting to pay more attention to the data. So typically, I record my podcast. I'll post social media probably five times a week, and I'll post it on Facebook and Instagram and Twitter and LinkedIn and YouTube. And I didn't really have any good analytics helping me with this, and I kind of did it because I always did it. And then I realized, look, Rob, what you really need to do is be a bit smarter about this and narrow it down. So now my focus is simply on the podcast on LinkedIn, because that's where most of my clients hang out, and on YouTube, because I like getting on video, and I'm happy to do that. And it's a great way of building additional engagement with you guys as well as the podcast. And of course, that's all backed up by building my email list. So you want to build a robust business development plan that you can implement in that one day a week that you're ring fencing and you want to do just a few things and do them really well. And I would start really narrow and then broaden out once you kind of get into the rhythm of it and you automate much of it as you possibly can. And if you want to get really slick at doing this, then you want to move into a batching mode. So if you're allocating one day a week, you might say one day a month, I'm going to spend that whole day recording six podcasts or writing four blogs or writing six emails or whatever it is, because it's much more efficient to batch these things while your head's in the game and get them done and then you can park them and you don't have to worry about them again until the next cycle comes around. So that is tip number four, which is build a really robust business development plan. Know exactly what you're going to do when it comes to having that day or week that you're going to focus on new business. Number five is all about building your mailing list. And I've recorded a whole number of episodes on your mailing list, including episode 30 Where I Talk about how to build an email sales funnel. So please go back and listen to them. I'm not going to talk too long about standing on my soapbox telling you why it's so important to build your email list. But guys, it's really important to build your email. Build your email list. It's the most valuable thing that you can ever do and you haven't started it. Then start it today and set some really modest goals. I can't tell you how important that is. And every single guru who is much smarter than me about marketing will tell you that building your email list is a fantastic way to build, know like and trust with your audience, to move them through those three stages I mentioned, so that when they're ready to buy, you are front of mind with them. So really, your business development plan is completely underpinned by your mailing list. And all the things that you do will be trying to drive people to sign up to your mailing list either because you're driving them to your website. And then when they get there, there's a really good piece of killer content that you've created. And of course they need to get that content for free. They've got to exchange their email address. That's the transaction. And once you've got their email address, you can then nurture them. Now, I know that some people think, oh, I don't want to bother my audience, or, you know, I don't know what to write. But let's face it, if you're providing value to your audience and therefore they look forward to receiving your content, why wouldn't you do it? And so the key message here is in your emails, 80% value, 20% selling, you really need to get that balance right. Remember, obviously if you did 100% selling, people would get filled up and quickly unsubscribe. But on the other hand, if all you do is add value, people will see you as a fantastic resource and a fantastic place to learn from, but they'll never think about buying from you. So just think about getting the 8020 rule right. And again, I've written lots on this both on my website and in the podcast before, so you can learn about it. But what should underpin strategy four, which is building a robust business development plan, is strategy five, which is building your email list. And number six is kind of the whole basic tenant of my business, which is that you need to build your brand so that it isn't just you. Now you might be a one person agency and you may not aspire to grow beyond that. But even in that scenario you're probably going to use some freelancers and you're probably going to use some virtual assistants like I do as well. So even if that is the case, this is still relevant to you. But let's assume that you want to grow your agency in some form, whether that be with an in house team or with external partners. You need to build your brand so that it's not you. And that's the whole tenant of my self running agency, which is my book and also my group coaching program which is the thing that most people wanted to create. They want to grow a business that isn't so dependent on them that they can never take a holiday. And the more the agency grows, the more stress they feel on their shoulders. So you want to think about how can I build my brand so that it's not just me, but I'm actually building an agency that can run itself, giving me flexibility and freedom and certainly giving me that day to work on my business development. And number seven ties in very much with number six. And also this idea of ring fencing time, which is our first strategy and that is about delegating as much client facing work as you possibly can. You know, I have some clients that run modest size agencies with 3, 4, 5, 10 staff and they do very little client delivery. They may be involved in the business development side of it and then they bring in their team early on in that pitching process and they may get involved with a client periodically just to check in how it's going, but on a day to day basis they're not involved in delivering any client work. And if that sends shivers down your spine and thinks oh, that I'll Never be able to get that. Well, yes you can, but you need to implement step six, strategy six, which is all about building your brand so that it's not just you and that you're building your self running agency. Now I've got my book, the self running Agency, which as you know sells on Amazon for 5.99, but I'm going to put a link into the show notes and you'll be able to grab a copy of that for free. So that talks about the three core pillars that any agency owner needs to get in place if they want to build an agency that's less dependent on them and then ultimately create some kind of succession. So there you go, that's my seven strategies that I think you need to focus on if you want to avoid feast or famine. So let me just really recap them. So number one is ring fence time in your diary that is only available for business development and cannot be overwritten with client work. Number two is get super clear on your niche and your ideal target customer. And remember that the more niche you are, the easier it becomes to identify who your ideal target customer is and the easier it becomes for your ideal target customer to select you because they see you as the specialist. And that moves on to the third strategy which is if you are a specialist, you charge higher fees than generalists, so you want to make sure that you get your pricing right so you are as profitable as possible. Number four is once you've got that time and you understand your niche, you want to build a robust business development plan, which is a marketing plan and a sales plan. And you want to make sure that you just do a few things that you do really well. And of course those things should be dictated by how your ideal target customer digests information and where do they what social media do they read? What are the key pain points that you can write about or talk about if it's a podcast like this? Number five is what underpins your business development strategy is your email marketing list. Don't do this cardinal sin, which so many people do of working really hard to drive traffic from networking and social media to your website and then provide great value on your website and then they just leave because you haven't found a way of capturing their email address. Because humans have a very short attention Spanish and they will forget about you very quickly. Whereas if they've given you their email address in return for some piece of genuinely value added content, now you can nurture them and stay in touch with them, providing them more additional value added content following that 8020 rule number six was build your brand so that it's not just you. You're trying to build a self running agency. Whether that means you have one staff member or 10 or 20 or 100 staff. It's the same philosophy of building an agency that's less dependent on you. And in order to do that, you need to make sure you are delegating as much client work as you possibly can to your team. Okay, so I hope that was useful for you. I could come up with at least another seven strategies, but they struck me as the basic fundamental things that we all should be focusing on. Of course, it starts by ring fencing that time in your diary and making it sacred and not letting it be overwritten no matter what. Now, once people have ring fenced their time and they are now able to focus on business development, one of the key reasons I see people falling off the wagon really quickly and not using that one day a week to focus on business development is the fact that they don't know exactly what they should be doing in that time. So that's why you want to build that business development plan. So I want to remove that excuse once and for all and not only give you the strength structure of what you should be doing, but also to know exactly what will work to engage with your clients to help. So to help you with that, I want to invite you to join my online business development program, the Agency Selling System. Now you can read more about it in the link in the show notes, but the program gives you access to guided online content covering everything to do with those seven strategies to do with positioning, marketing, sales, client retention, and growth. It gives you access to a private coaching discussion group where you can ask me questions, get support from me, and also get accountability and support from the other members. And not only that, for my podcast listeners. If you enter podcast 10 at checkout, then you're going to get an additional 10% off the cost of the program. So check out the links in the show notes for more information. Now, one thing it's worth saying for everything I teach both in that program, in my group coaching program, in my private coaching is everything I teach works. These are not flashy ideas that are going to require you to spend hundreds of thousands of pounds on advertising, but they're robust strategies that I implement day in and day out in my agency. And over the past 14 years I've helped 250 to 300 agencies implement in their business. So I've seen what works. I've refined the approaches and the templates and the tools that I use to make sure that you have a step by step guide to implement this robust business development strategy and to get support from me. So go check that out and also make sure you check out the links in the show notes to all the free resources that are going to help you implement those seven strategies. So if you want to avoid lurching from Feast where you're super busy, I don't have any time to breathe and you're feeling really stressed and then you zooming down into Famine where you get a different kind of stress because now you don't have enough money to cover those increased costs that you have and you are always last in line to be fed. If you want to avoid that once and for all, then implement these seven strategies that I've outlined today. Like I said, I've been there twice before in the last 14 years of my coaching and numerous times when I ran my agency and I was determined I was never going to go there again. So really focused on putting the strategies in place that I applied to myself and I apply with my clients and so I know they work. So I hope that you found this episode really useful. I am really making an effort to ensure that these episodes are value packed with actionable steps that you can start implementing straight away. I know that they work and I hope that you will find the time to implement them in your agency. So if you have any questions, please do get in touch with me. Please make sure you smash the subscribe button and share this with your colleagues. And if you've enjoyed this episode, please please consider leaving a review particularly on Apple Podcast because that will help the podcast reach more people just like you and I'm on a mission to help more people. So I hope you have a fantastic rest of the week and a brilliant, restful weekend and I will see you next week for a really great episode where we're talking all things finance and making it really sexy and interesting and really helpful. So have a great week and I will see you then.