c/agency-growth

Vent: My agency tried cold email for 6 months, then switched to just doing free audits

We sent about 500 emails a week for half a year and maybe got 3 calls. Last month, we started offering a free website audit on LinkedIn and got 8 new clients. The free work upfront seems to build way more trust. Anyone else find that giving away value first beats the old spray and pray method?

A client said our project reports looked like a ransom note

We sent a big report to a new client in Chicago, full of data and next steps. They got back to us with one line: 'This looks like a ransom note made by a colorblind person.' Ouch. They were right though. We had used like seven different fonts and every highlight was a different neon color. It was a mess. We changed our whole report template to just two fonts and a simple three-color system for highlights. Now everything looks clean and people actually read it. Has anyone else had a client give them a funny but super useful piece of feedback like that?

TIL that offering a free, no-strings audit actually brought in more qualified leads than our paid discovery call package.

We switched from a $500 discovery fee to giving away a full 12-point audit for free, and our close rate on proposals jumped from 20% to 45% because clients already saw the exact value we could provide.

Hot take: I thought hiring a sales guy was a waste of money until I saw the numbers from the first quarter.

Update: My old client said our growth plan felt like a 'sprint, not a marathon'

I was on a call with a client we helped scale from 10k to 50k a month, and we were talking about their next big push. I laid out this aggressive 90-day plan with new ad channels and a heavy content push. He got quiet for a second and said, 'This feels like another sprint. I think we need a marathon plan now.' He explained that the last few pushes left his team burnt out and their service quality dipped for a bit. It hit different because I always thought faster growth was the only goal. Now I'm rethinking if we should build more 'sustainable pace' plans for established clients, even if the growth curve looks slower on paper. Has anyone else shifted their agency's approach from pure speed to something more balanced for long-term clients?

I switched from sending weekly client updates to monthly ones about six months ago.

Our agency's renewal rate jumped from 75% to 92% in that time, and I think it's because the monthly reports show more meaningful progress. We stopped drowning them in data and started telling a clearer story. Has anyone else seen a big change from adjusting their reporting schedule?

A client flat out told me our monthly reports were useless

We sent a 20 page PDF every month with every metric you could think of. A client in Denver finally said, 'I don't read these, just tell me if I'm making money and what to do next.' It was a gut punch. We cut it down to one page with three key numbers, a simple win, and one clear action item. That was six months ago, and our renewal rate jumped 15%. Has anyone else been called out for overcomplicating things?

Hot take: I just read that 80% of agency leads come from referrals and I'm shook

I was going through an old report from a consulting firm called 'Agency Benchmarks' that I found online. It said that for most marketing agencies, a full 80% of their new business comes from referrals from past clients. I always thought our website or social media was doing more of the heavy lifting, but looking at our own numbers from the past year, it's basically true. We only landed two new projects from our online ads, but got eight from people our old clients talked to. It makes me wonder if we're putting effort in the wrong places. How do you even build a system to get more of those referrals without being annoying?

I used to think we needed a big team to grow, now I run a $500k agency with just 3 people

For years in my Chicago office, I was sure growth meant hiring more account managers and salespeople... I had 8 full-time staff by 2020. The change came when I saw our profit margins were terrible despite the revenue. Now we use a few key software tools like HighLevel and focus only on high-ticket retainer clients, which lets us do way more with less. Has anyone else cut their team size but still hit bigger goals?

Three years ago I was running my whole agency from a coffee shop in Denver, now I'm looking at a second office.

Serious question, has anyone else had a client meeting go totally off the rails?

I was in a pitch meeting with a potential client in Denver last month, trying to explain our retainer structure. Halfway through, their office dog, a huge golden retriever, decided my laptop bag was a chew toy and ran off with it. The bag had my presentation notes and the only copy of our proposal. We spent the next 20 minutes chasing this dog around their open-plan office while trying to keep the conversation going. We did eventually get the bag back, but the proposal was covered in slobber. Honestly, we all laughed so hard it probably helped us land the account. What's the weirdest thing that's ever derailed a meeting for you?

Read a study that said 70% of agency leads come from referrals, not paid ads

Found it in a marketing report from last quarter... makes me think our ad budget might be a bit off. Anyone else find their own numbers don't match the common advice?

A client in Dallas asked for a full refund after our first month, which was a gut punch.

I was reviewing their project dashboard last quarter when I saw the email. We had delivered everything on the list, but they felt the strategy wasn't moving the needle. Instead of arguing, I scheduled a video call that same day. I asked them to walk me through their exact goals, which we had missed in the initial setup. We rebuilt the plan from scratch over the next 48 hours, focusing only on their two main revenue targets. They stayed on, and their retainer doubled six months later. Has anyone else turned a refund request into a bigger contract by just listening more?

Appreciation post: A coffee shop in Portland showed me a better way to handle client intakes

I was at a place called Proud Mary last month and noticed they give you a small card with your coffee that explains the bean's origin and flavor notes. It made me realize we should send a simple, one-page 'welcome guide' to new clients right after they sign, explaining our process and what to expect. Has anyone else tried something like this to cut down on onboarding questions?

Had to pick between a $500 retainer client or a $5k project with a nightmare brief

Went with the project and spent three weeks just getting them to agree on a color palette. Anyone else ever take a big job that turned into a total time sink?

Serious question, we just hit $40k in monthly recurring revenue and it feels weirdly quiet.

I expected a bigger celebration, but it just feels like another Tuesday. Did anyone else feel this way after a big financial milestone?

We just hit $50k in monthly recurring revenue and I'm honestly shocked it happened this year.

Remember when a full client roster felt like a win?

Back in 2018, we had a week where we signed three new clients from one referral, hitting our monthly goal by the 10th. The whole office in Austin was buzzing, but we were so busy doing the work we didn't have a system to keep it going. How do you build a real plan off a lucky streak like that?

Just spent $1,200 on a niche lead list and it was a total waste

I bought a targeted list of 500 marketing directors for a specific industry, thinking it would jumpstart our outbound. After three weeks of calls and emails, we got zero replies and a few angry people. Has anyone actually had a good result from buying a list, or is it always better to build your own from scratch?

Warning: A client in Denver told me they'd never hire an agency that didn't have a documented offboarding process.

They said it showed we only cared about the sale, not the long-term relationship, and it made me realize our 'growth' was just churn in a nice suit.

Changed my mind about hiring for growth

I used to think you had to hire a salesperson before you could scale. After tracking our numbers for a quarter, I saw our two founders were closing 80% of our qualified leads, but a new sales hire we brought on only closed 20%. The cost and training time just didn't make sense for our stage. Has anyone else found it's better to wait longer before adding that first sales role?

I thought hiring a sales coach was a waste of money for our agency.

We were a team of four in Austin and I figured we could just figure out sales ourselves. Then we hired a coach named Sarah for three months, and our close rate went from 15% to 28% by focusing on better discovery questions. Has anyone else tried a coach and seen a real jump in numbers?

PSA: I just read that 80% of agency leads come from referrals, not ads

I was looking at a report from a small business group in Austin yesterday. They surveyed about 100 local agencies. The stat said 80% of their new clients came from word of mouth or past client referrals. I always thought paid ads were the main source! It really made me rethink how we spend our time. Has anyone else found this to be true for their shop?

Pro tip: Don't pay for a 'done for you' lead gen service without checking their list first

Honestly, I dropped $2,500 on one of those services that promised 20 qualified sales calls a month. Tbh, the leads were awful, mostly people who had no budget or weren't even looking for an agency. I lost that money and wasted two months of my sales guy's time chasing ghosts. Has anyone found a legit way to buy leads that doesn't feel like a total scam?

My biggest lead source dried up overnight last Tuesday and I had to scramble.

It was a niche forum that suddenly changed its rules, so I spent the next 48 hours cold emailing 50 local businesses from a coffee shop list I built. Has anyone else had to rebuild their pipeline that fast and what did you try?