Agencies often focus on long-term growth strategies and ignore small tactics that can have a massive impact on business. We spoke with 3 successful agencies to find out how they’ve increased their revenue, streamlined their sales funnel and won over more clients by making minor changes to the way they work.
Their top recommendations:
Tackle projects in phases
Simplify price quotes
Prioritize client communication
Diversify client communication
Cater to a range of budgets
Here’s how to apply these micro-strategies and why they can help you grow your business.
1. Tackle projects in phases
“We saw a big impact from splitting clients’ needs into small phases,” said Mauricio Alanis, Founder and CEO of Cincodemayo Branding & Marketing. Based in Laredo, Texas and founded in 1992, Cincodemayo’s services include web design, branding and digital strategy.
In the past, Cincodemayo found their projects getting drawn out longer than planned as clients added on additional services. While this benefitted Cincodemayo’s bottom line, Mauricio found there was a better way to accomplish the same goal while allowing their clients to see results faster.
“We focus on clients’ immediate goals first and resolve those quickly,” said Mauricio. “Then, we can move to their secondary needs.״
"Clients love seeing that they’re moving forward, even if it’s just a small task, like a 30-minute design fix.״
How to put it into practice
The next time you’re headed into a project kickoff, work with your clients to prioritize their needs in tiers, with a focus on quicker wins first. You can still upsell additional services to help meet their needs when relevant. Just make sure those add-ons are accounted for in your project timeline.
2. Simplify price quotes
In the time it takes you to get a lead, schedule a discovery call or go back and forth over email, a prospective new client may have already gotten a full, detailed estimate from someone else. Mauricio suggests answering these 2 questions as quickly as possible to increase your competitive edge:
Will you be able to help?
How much will it cost?
“Agencies make this step so complicated. We simplified the way we offer leads effective and quick answers to these common questions. 2 specific tools helped us with this challenge: A visually appealing price list with assorted package levels and a price quote template,” Mauricio said.
How to put it into practice
You can create a price quote template that matches your agency’s brand and leave space for the client’s business info. This will save you time, provide leads with the information they’re looking for faster and give your agency a chance to beat competitors.
3. Prioritize client communication
Dave Place, Founder of Let’s Design Your Site, a full-service digital agency based in Boston, recently hired a client liaison.
“Before we had a client liaison, I often felt like I was trying to do 100 things at once,” Dave said. “Clients always want to check in, see how their website is going, ask questions, make changes. Before you know it, you’re fielding 20 emails a day before you actually start working on a website or pick up the phone to call new leads."
“Having a client liaison takes the pressure off of me to focus on the important rather than the urgent.”