In this episode, Chip and Gini discuss the pivotal role of trust within agency teams. They explore common scenarios where agency owners struggle with trusting their employees, often due to micromanagement tendencies, ill-defined roles, or unrealistic expectations. They emphasize the importance of clear communication, proper onboarding, and creating…

Agencies sometimes find themselves mired in micromanagement, worried about the wrong things, or presenting ill-considered solutions to clients. Much of this can be avoided by asking “So What?” more often. In this episode, Chip and Gini discuss the importance of that one question and how it can lead to more effective decision-making for agency owner…

In this episode, Chip and Gini discuss the importance of email marketing for agencies. They emphasize that email newsletters should be a top priority for agencies to nurture leads, share content, and maintain direct communication with clients. The conversation highlights the risks of relying solely on social media platforms, which can change or dis…

If you’re a regular listener, you know that Chip and Gini have strong feelings about staying away from RFPs when possible. But sometimes they can’t be avoided. In this episode, Chip and Gini discuss offer practical tips for handling RFPs efficiently, like templatizing repeat information, asking insightful questions, and focusing on building relatio…

In this episode, Chip and Gini discuss whether PR agencies should report to the head of communications or the head of marketing. They reference a LinkedIn post by Parry Headrick, which suggests that PR agencies should ideally report to the communications lead. Chip and Gini explore various considerations such as the size and structure of the client…

For years, agency advisors like Chip and Gini have implored agencies to be strategic and avoid being simple order takers. Owners were told that this shift was key to increasing profitability and client retention. But has it gone too far? In this episode, Chip and Gini examine whether agencies have hit ‘peak strategy’ as suggested recently by Blair …

In this episode, Chip and Gini discuss the widespread apprehension about AI in the agency world, urging listeners to embrace the technology rather than fear it. They emphasize that AI will not replace jobs but will change the nature of work, making tasks more efficient and allowing for more strategic focus. The conversation also explores how agency…

Are you finding biz dev harder in 2024 than you expected? In this episode, Chip and Gini discuss the increased risk aversion and prolonged decision-making processes among clients and prospects in the agency industry, especially in light of economic uncertainties and the 2024 U.S. election. They emphasize the importance of agencies adapting by provi…

“If an employee is too critical to take vacation, your problem isn’t the employee.” In this episode, Chip and Gini discuss the importance of ensuring that no one in an agency, including owners and key employees, is too indispensable to take time off. They explore the belief versus reality of being irreplaceable, and provide actionable strategies fo…

Don’t sugarcoat it when writing up a job description or interviewing potential new hires – painting a rosy picture that doesn’t match reality will only cause you headaches down the road. In this episode, Chip and Gini discuss the importance of being open and honest about work expectations at your agency, including hours, tasks, and working conditio…

Gen Z employees tend to have a different (not worse!) approach to their jobs than the older generations do. Which means that as an owner, you need to evolve the way you communicate with and manage them. In this episode, Chip and Gini discuss those differences and the importance of effective communication and feedback in managing and leading. They h…

It must be nice to own an agency because then you’re earning the big bucks, right? Many agency employees complain that clients pay so much more than they are making, so the owner must be reaping a huge profit. It makes it easy to think that setting out on your own and working for clients directly is the right answer. In this episode, Chip and Gini …

Hiring seasoned professionals sounds like it will solve a lot of headaches you have as an agency owner. But will it? In this episode, Chip and Gini discuss the importance of balancing senior and junior hires in agencies, highlighting the pros and cons of primarily staffing with senior level talent. They emphasize the need for clear expectations, re…

Chip and Gini discuss recent updates from the federal government affecting agency owners, including a ban on non-compete agreements and changes to salary thresholds for overtime exempt employees. It emphasizes the importance of compliance, working with professional advisors, and making necessary adjustments to HR policies. Key takeaways Gini Dietri…

You trust your team, right? In this episode, Chip and Gini discuss the importance of agency owners letting go of micromanaging, trusting their team, and focusing on building a scalable business. They emphasize the need for owners to delegate tasks and avoid being bottlenecks. They also touch on the challenges and benefits of transitioning from bein…

Chip and Gini discuss the intricacies of fractional leadership roles within clients. They share their experiences and provide advice on managing relationships, setting clear boundaries, handling administrative tasks, and positioning yourself accurately in these roles. Key takeaways Chip Griffin: “Fractional roles tend to work best when there’s a fr…

Start-up clients may not have the funds to pay you, but still need service, so why not consider receiving equity as payment? In this episode, Chip and Gini discuss the potential pitfalls of that approach. They caution against exotic payment schemes such as equity or pay for performance, emphasizing the risks and complexities involved. They also hig…

In this episode, Chip and Gini discuss the fear of hiring employees, the implications of using contractors, the financial considerations, and the benefits of having employees. They emphasize the need to align hiring decisions with long-term business goals and not to be afraid of hiring employees when it makes sense financially. Key takeaways Chip G…

Employee complaints? Accountable only to yourself? Trying to create a work culture? Welcome to agency ownership! In this episode, Chip and Gini discuss the challenges and frustrations of owning an agency, emphasizing the importance of seeking accountability and support, and reflecting on one’s own role in addressing issues. The discussion also incl…

How do you deal with clients who ask for different payment terms than the ones your agency offers? In this episode, Chip and Gini discuss the importance of setting clear expectations from the start and being proactive in following up on overdue invoices. They offer different approaches and creative strategies for handling payment terms with clients…

Are you and your agency team spending too much time writing proposals, creating capabilities decks, and building brand personas? It may seem productive, but clients value results – and so should you. In this episode, Chip and Gini discuss how to get your agency’s time under control and offer advice on managing business development and project manag…

In this episode, Chip and Gini discuss the recent wave of layoffs in the media industry and its implications for PR agencies. They explore the challenges of securing earned media in a landscape with fewer journalists and offer insights on evolving strategies to effectively reach target audiences through alternative channels. Emphasizing the importa…

A lot of agencies have told Chip and Gini that 2023 was a bad year for them. Fellow agency adviser Karl Sakas posted on LinkedIn that he has been asked if it was bad for everyone. In this episode, Chip and Gini share their perspectives — along with things that positioned some agencies for success in what many experienced as a down year. Whether you…

When Gini shared in a recent episode that her success has come from doing the same thing for 15 years, a listener pointed out that she has continued to evolve. The two are not mutually exclusive. In fact, the best agencies usually combine the two. Rather than chasing trends, successful agencies consistently produce excellent results for a well-defi…

The Wall Street Journal recently suggested that the era of digital agencies may be over. It’s not that digital services are no longer required, but the label for agencies may no longer make sense. In this episode, Chip and Gini talk about the need for agencies to find a sustainable focus and be cautious of riding the wave of the latest type of “hot…

It’s not uncommon to hear agency owners talk about wanting to target small businesses because there are so many of them and you can talk with the decision-maker more easily. While it may be an appealing target, there are reasons to be cautious. There’s a good chance that you will be dealing with the owner, which can help lead to a faster sale since…

It seems so alluring to be able to put a Fortune 500 logo on your agency’s website. Many of us dream of the creative things that we can do for these household names. Yet often these big brands end up being bad deals for small agencies. They are time-consuming to sell, difficult to service, and often subject to onerous contractual terms. In this epi…

In this episode, Chip and Gini take a question from the SAGA Community on Slack about ways to motivate freelancers just as you do with employees. The reality is that freelancers and employees aren’t the same and contractors should treat your agency as a client and produce excellent results — just the same way you do for your own clients. The real q…

It’s easy for all of us to get stuck inside our own heads. Having someone we trust who can help to provide some independent insight and challenge our own beliefs can be very helpful. In this episode, Chip and Gini talk about why it is important for agency owners to have someone outside of the business — a mentor, consultant, coach, friend, or even …

If you’re anything like Chip and Gini, you have discovered employees doing work for clients that is outside of the scope of work you have agreed to. There are many reasons for this behavior and this episode explores those as well as potential solutions. Whether your team just wants to make clients happy, enjoys doing some work more than others, or …

Most small agencies at some point experience the sinking feeling of losing a whale client or seeing a sudden sharp reduction in revenue. When you get that kind of news, what do you do? That’s what Chip and Gini discuss on this week’s episode — especially for agencies that may not have an active pipeline of prospects in place. Ramping up revenue qui…

Many agencies overvalue their websites and spend too much time thinking about and working on them. In this episode, Chip and Gini talk about what matters — and what doesn’t — when it comes to your website design and content. They share some of their experience about the areas in which the most time (and money) get wasted and how to make sure that y…

Agency leaders need to stop casually discussing the chaotic environment common to so many agencies. Too often you will hear firm owners and others talk about agencies as hectic and fast-paced environments. Chip and Gini have had enough of this talk — and they both admit that they, too, used to embrace the idea that it was an unavoidable circumstanc…

With labor costs usually accounting for the largest share of agency expenses, it is no surprise that owners are particularly sensitive to any indication that salaries might be creeping up. Recent conversations that Chip and Gini have had with agency leaders suggest that both prospective hires and current employees are asking for much higher salarie…

One of the biggest sources of friction between agencies and clients comes from mismatched expectations. Too often agency leaders don’t do enough to set realistic expectations during the business development phase of the relationship. It’s exciting to get a deal done so we often allow prospective clients to entertain inflated expectations without co…

In this episode, Chip and Gini react to a blog post from their friend Christopher S. Penn who writes and speaks frequently and intelligently on new trends in communications and technology. In his piece, Chris argued that agencies should review their business model and pricing structure in response to AI developments in 2023. While the co-hosts see …

Chip and Gini understand the excitement of closing a deal and the desire that agencies have to just get started with the creative process. But it’s important to get the contracting process done right, including setting the best terms and having a signature before any work gets going. In this episode, Chip and Gini talk about some of the common mist…

In this episode, Chip and Gini discuss when you should (and shouldn’t) terminate an employee for cause. They explain the perils of allowing emotion to impact termination decisions and how you should approach these difficult circumstances. When an employee is terminated for cause, it can also cause agency leaders to wonder if they can trust others, …

All agencies experience turnover, so it makes sense to have a process for when employees leave. The exit interview is an important part of that sequence. In this episode, Chip and Gini discuss best practices for conducting effective exit interviews, including who should run them and what they should include. The co-hosts also offer advice on the im…

Chip and Gini are tired of all of the bad pitches from agencies that they find in their inboxes. They simply can’t take any more. In this episode, they examine some of the really poor sales emails and pitches to have guests on their podcasts that they have seen lately. It’s time for agencies to knock it off and put more thought into how they pitch …

Chip and Gini recently spoke about the challenge of small agencies seeking to hire unicorns who excel at everything. In this episode, they look at when you should be looking for specific kinds of hires and whether they should be specialists, generalists, or fractional support. Knowing the level of expertise needed and understanding how much demand …

Agency owners tend to be good at a little bit of everything — that’s typically how they ended up as owners in the first place. They’re used to rolling up their sleeves and digging into client work, business development, management, and just about anything else that’s needed. As they staff up their teams, they often look for people who can check sev…

Agency owners ask Chip and Gini all the time how they can figure out what to delegate — and how to do it — to free up time in their days. In this episode, they talk about why agency owners should change their mindset to assume they will delegate anything that comes across their desks — then only keep it for themselves if they can’t find any viable …

Have you ever given serious thought to the structure of the titles at your agency? Or have you dealt with them simply as one-off decisions with individual employees? In this episode, Chip and Gini explore how — and why — you should be more thoughtful about how you hand out titles to employees. More important, they discuss how a mindful approach to …

Does your agency regularly survey your clients to see how happy they are with the services that they are receiving and how likely they are to recommend you to someone else? Is it even worth doing these surveys? That’s the question that Chip and Gini explore in this week’s episode. Spoiler alert: they’re not big fans of formal surveys, so they offer…

Too many agencies focus on reporting the amount of time and effort that they put in on behalf of clients rather than talking about the strategy and the results it produces. When agencies tell a client how many hours were spent on work that is not billed by the hour, it serves little or no purpose. If you talk about how many reporters you pitched ra…

In this episode, Chip and Gini explore some of the things that PR and marketing agency owners focus on that probably aren’t worth the time. For example, do you fret over fractional days off taken by employees or trading out paid holidays when a new one gets widespread recognition? Getting lost in the weeds — especially the wrong ones — can really h…

Chip and Gini get asked frequently about the state of the economy, the prospects of a recession, and what it means for agency owners. Not just now in 2023, but all the time. For years. But what is the state of things right now, in Q2 of 2023? The co-hosts explore what they’re hearing and seeing from agencies that they’re talking to. If prospects ar…

While many agency owners believe that recurring revenue is the answer to all of their problems, the reality is that a large number of agencies become quite successful by generating most of their income from individual projects. However, project work comes with a unique set of challenges, especially as it relates to dealing with clients who may end …

In this episode, Chip and Gini review the recently released PR Council guidelines for the use of generative AI by agencies. They explore which elements small agencies might consider adopting, as well as identifying others that may warrant more of a “wait and see” approach. As the use of AI by communicators continues to expand, there will be many th…