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PODCAST

Agency Leadership Podcast

Chip Griffin and Gini Dietrich

The Agency Leadership Podcast provides insights for agency owners and executives. Co-hosts Chip Griffin and Gini Dietrich share practical advice and industry news relevant to PR and marketing agency leaders.

business management

All Episodes

24:45

Hidden overservicing by agency employees

Agency Leadership Podcast ·

2023/11/15

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 simply isn't aware of the actual scope of work for a project, you will get some practical tips on what to do — as well as a bit of reassurance

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24:42

What to do when your agency needs new revenue NOW

Agency Leadership Podcast ·

2023/11/07

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 quickly means focusing on the right things and not wasting time on tactics that will only pay off in the long-term (if ever).

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26:00

Real talk about agency websites

Agency Leadership Podcast ·

2023/11/01

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 you get the best ROI possible on your agency's website.

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22:15

Chaos is not a virtue for agencies

Agency Leadership Podcast ·

2023/10/25

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 circumstance for agency life. Chaos is the sign of a problem that needs to be solved, not an acceptable condition that leaders and their teams should

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22:22

The rising salary demands of agency employees

Agency Leadership Podcast ·

2023/10/19

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 salaries than many owners feel comfortable paying. In this episode, Chip and Gini talk about why salary expectations are on the rise and what agencies

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21:49

Setting expectations for agency clients

Agency Leadership Podcast ·

2023/10/04

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 correcting them — or to avoid discussion of expectations altogether. Chip and Gini explain that for healthy, sustainable relationships with

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25:16

Should AI upend your agency business model today?

Agency Leadership Podcast ·

2023/09/27

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 artificial intelligence as a force that will (and already is) impacting agencies, they're not on board with a wholesale change to agency models as a

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23:17

Getting agency-client contracts done right

Agency Leadership Podcast ·

2023/09/19

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 mistakes that they have seen agency owners make with contracts and how to go about it in the best way.

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23:43

The aftermath of firing agency employees for cause

Agency Leadership Podcast ·

2023/09/12

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, so Chip and Gini explore the ramifications of that fear.

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22:16

The value of employee exit interviews for agencies

Agency Leadership Podcast ·

2023/09/06

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 importance of ongoing employee communication to avoid surprises in the exit interviews that could have been avoided.

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21:21

Let's talk about bad agency pitches

Agency Leadership Podcast ·

2023/08/29

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 themselves and their clients.

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20:04

Should your agency hire specialists, generalists, or...

Agency Leadership Podcast ·

2023/08/08

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 your agency will have for their time helps you to make a smarter decision about how to obtain the resources needed to serve clients and manage your

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18:21

Are you trying to hire unicorns for your agency?

Agency Leadership Podcast ·

2023/08/01

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 several boxes at once. Part of it is because that's what they do, and part of it is because that's what they need. Most small agencies don't have

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21:12

Stop asking what you can delegate as an agency owner

Agency Leadership Podcast ·

2023/07/25

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 alternative. It's a subtle but important shift in thinking that can help you get more time to work on your business or even simply get some more

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19:34

Be smart about titles at your agency

Agency Leadership Podcast ·

2023/07/18

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 titles can help you to retain your best employees. Of course, there's also discussion around the problems that come from title inflation that can

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19:00

Are client satisfaction surveys worthwhile for agencies?

Agency Leadership Podcast ·

2023/06/20

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 some alternative approaches. For those who still insist on sending questions to clients, they do have some practical advice on how to make the

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20:40

Be more collaborative and less transactional with...

Agency Leadership Podcast ·

2023/06/13

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 rather than the number of stories you generated, you are missing the point. In this episode, Chip and Gini talk about the perils of transactional

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20:59

Are you getting lost in the wrong stuff as an agency...

Agency Leadership Podcast ·

2023/06/06

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 hold back your agency's growth and negatively impact employee retention, so Chip and Gini offer some advice on how to combat the urge when it

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19:09

Is business slowing down for agencies in 2023?

Agency Leadership Podcast ·

2023/05/30

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 are being more cautious and more risk-averse, what does that mean for the length of agency sales cycles and the types of projects that are more

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19:09

The challenges of project-focused agencies

Agency Leadership Podcast ·

2023/05/23

While many agencies believe that recurring revenue is the answer to all of their problems, the reality is that many 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 up inadvertently delaying completion of a project. The unpredictability of resourcing and revenue that these delays can create mean that agency owners need to find

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170 results

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