Welcome to episode 140, with Laura Smales, Client Services Director at Creative search marketing agency, Rise At Seven. This episode is going to be particularly interesting if you are a CSD in an agency and curious how another one operates. Here’s what we covered in this episode: How Rise at Seven differentiates themselves from other agencies Why Laura and her client service team prioritise solving the client’s biggest business challenge and how her team works with their internal craft and strat...
Jun 26, 2025•47 min•Ep. 140
Welcome to episode 139. My guest is Blair Enns - a globally recognised author, speaker and the founder of Win Without Pitching, a sales training company that has transformed how creative professionals position and sell their expertise Blair is the author of three books; o The Win Without Pitching Manifesto, a rallying cry for creative agencies to stop giving away their thinking for free. o Pricing Creativity, a guide to pricing your work based on value, not hours. o And now, his latest book - Th...
Jun 12, 2025•42 min•Ep. 139
Welcome to episode 138. If you’re managing client relationships - or leading others who do - this episode is packed with practical advice. I’m joined by David C. Baker, widely regarded as "the expert's expert" in the marketing agency world. David has advised over 1,000 entrepreneurial experts through his consulting firm, Punctuation, which he founded back in 1994. He's the author of 7 books, including the influential "The Business of Expertise" and "Secret Tradecraft of Elite Advisors," and his ...
May 27, 2025•54 min•Ep. 138
Welcome to episode 137. If you’ve ever wondered when’s the right time to introduce an account manager role into your agency - or how that change might impact the way you serve clients - this episode is for you. I’m joined by Cameron Magee, founder of event production agency avad3, trusted by clients such as Walmart and the White House. He shares with me: Why he waited until 30+ employees to hire a dedicated account manager What changed when Cameron stepped back from day-to-day client contact The...
May 13, 2025•57 min•Ep. 137
Welcome to episode 136. We’re talking about a topic that’s becoming a real game-changer for creative agencies - the power of personal branding and employee-generated content. If you're an account manager, this one's especially for you. Clients are increasingly choosing to work with people, not just businesses. So the way you show up online can directly impact trust, relationships and even new business opportunities. I chat to Claudia Cardinali, the Strategy Director for Personal Branding Agency,...
Apr 25, 2025•49 min•Ep. 136
Welcome to episode 135. There’s a quiet shift happening in the agency world - and today’s episode gets right into it. More and more agencies are choosing to stay lean, move faster, and build businesses that are not just profitable - but more human. And that shift is changing everything, from how we use AI, to how we lead, to what it means to be an account manager. Carl Smith leads The Bureau, a community that connects and supports agency leaders. A former theater major, he ran his agency nGen Wo...
Apr 14, 2025•47 min•Ep. 135
Welcome to episode 134. I spoke to Kevin Gibbons, founding director of Re:signal, a specialist ecommerce SEO agency, driving organic search growth for clients including Under Armour, FatFace and ASICS. Kevin frequently writes/speaks within the search industry. Kevin covers: - how AI is shaking up SEO and what that means for agencies and their clients. - how AI is changing search and where it might go next. - the key conversations agencies should be having with clients right now. - how to think a...
Mar 27, 2025•45 min•Ep. 134
Welcome to episode 133. I'm chatting with Founder of G3NR8, Tom Head, about how AI is impacting business. G3NR8 is a consultancy for a new age, innovating business with AI. Tom has spent two decades in digital and built multiple 7 figure agencies. He’s worked with brands such as Red Bull Racing, JP Morgan, Tesco, and The Guardian and is now helping companies succeed with AI by providing training, consultancy, research, and building out the right AI strategy to keep them ahead of the competition....
Mar 05, 2025•53 min•Ep. 133
Welcome to episode 132. This one will be particularly interesting and useful for you if you are responsible for marketing your agency's services. Agencies are experts in the field of marketing and are always focused on our clients’ marketing success. But how often do we seek an external perspective on how we are marketing our own agency services? So if you're the owner of the agency, that might be you, or if you're working in a larger agency, you might be the head of marketing responsible for dr...
Feb 25, 2025•1 hr 24 min•Ep. 132
Welcome to episode 131. If you are a healthcare communications agency owner, or an account manager working in healthcare communications, and you're looking to stay ahead in the ever-evolving world of pharmaceutical marketing, then this episode is for you. I'm joined in the studio by Jonathan Gwillim and Kate Eversole from PharmaBrands. They are the organisers of the upcoming Age of AI Europe event, which, if you're listening or watching this at the beginning of 2025, is happening on March 4th in...
Feb 11, 2025•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 131
Welcome to episode 130. I’m joined by Leadership Coach and People & Culture Consultant, Theresa Carter. Agencies are people businesses, so it's essential to the success of the agency to attract and recruit the right people with the right skills for the right roles. And this also means that, as the agency grows, the needs of the business change. For example, you might start your agency with small national clients, and then as you expand, you might begin to serve multinational clients that are...
Jan 28, 2025•43 min•Ep. 130
Welcome to episode 129. In this episode Jenny breaks down the three key areas to focus on if you want to maximise the growth of your existing client accounts in 2025: 1. Finding COMMERCIAL CLARITY Agencies who predictably forecast revenue growth from existing accounts are clear where to focus their team's efforts and provide sufficient time and support for developing an account growth strategy. They have client development plans in place and work differently with 'growth' clients than ‘maintenan...
Jan 14, 2025•29 min•Ep. 129
Welcome to episode 128. This conversation is going to be particularly interesting for you if you’re keen to develop your leadership skills. It’s for you if you’re currently in charge of the agency and leading the whole team OR you’re leading an AM team within the agency - and you want to go from being a ‘good’ leader to being a ‘great’ leader. Founder of Navigate The Journey and author of ‘What If There’s More?: Finding Significance Beyond Success’, Traci Schubert Barrett shares actionable tips ...
Dec 31, 2024•51 min•Ep. 128
Welcome to episode 127. Thank you for listening in 2024. Looking back at this year, I’ve been reflecting on the superb guests I’ve had on the show. I thought I’d select a handful of soundbites from this year’s podcast episodes to share with you. This isn’t a comprehensive list - there have been so many standout moments - but these clips include tips, advice, or insights that stayed with me. I’ve shared 10 soundbites that I hope you find as useful or insightful as I did. Stick around until the en...
Dec 09, 2024•26 min•Ep. 127
Welcome to episode 126. In this episode, I chat to Brian Jacobs (Founder, BJ&A) and Crispin Reed (Founder, Skyscraper Consulting) about what’s wrong with the advertising industry. And what specifically prompted the launch of their ‘Who Cares?’ initiative, aimed at tackling the pressing issues affecting the advertising industry today. We cover: · what's actually wrong with the industry itself · the need for greater creativity and transparency in advertising · how Brian developed the ‘Who Care...
Nov 19, 2024•43 min•Ep. 126
Welcome to episode 125. Have you ever considered contacting your old clients to see if they’d like to work with you again? If not this episode may change your mind. Dan Pfister is the master of running client winback campaigns and here’s what he shares with me: · The compelling reasons why WinBack campaigns could be the most successful and profitable thing you ever do to grow your business (the ROI is staggering) · A step by step guide to how to approach running a client winback campaign – and w...
Oct 22, 2024•41 min•Ep. 125
Welcome to episode 124. This will be particularly interesting for you if you want to know how much the head of client services role can impact the agency's business. Listen in if you don’t currently have a client services team and you're perhaps thinking about having one, or your client services function isn't performing as you'd like it to and you're exploring options for perhaps bringing in a head of department. Or maybe you are the client services director in your agency and are curious to un...
Oct 22, 2024•47 min•Ep. 124
Welcome to episode 123. This episode will be particularly interesting for you if you're responsible for your agency's internal operations. You might be the operations director, head of project management, or even a client services director, but if you think your internal agency operations could be more efficient and streamlined, then this episode is for you. Harv Nagra is an agency ops consultant, a former in-house agency ops director, and Head of Brand Comms at agency work management platform S...
Oct 08, 2024•51 min•Ep. 123
Welcome to episode 122. This episode will be particularly relevant for you if you're an ambitious agency owner looking to accelerate the growth of your agency. - Maybe you think you're not standing out enough from your competitors. - Perhaps you feel your positioning needs dialling in because maybe you've lost some pitches or you've had to drop your prices. - Or maybe you just want to be seen as more specialized and expert. Agency consultant and CEO of Co:definery, Robin Bonn, joins me to bust t...
Sep 24, 2024•44 min•Ep. 122
Welcome to episode 121. This is part two of a two-part interview with Simon Rhind-Tutt and Carey Evans, who are Co-Founders of Relationship Audits. If you missed part one, I would really recommend you go back and have a listen (it’s episode 120). Simon and Carey just packed it full of insights and tips for agencies when it comes to strengthening their client relationships. This episode is no exception and we talk about: - what every client wants but rarely gets from an agency - what a brain trus...
Sep 03, 2024•52 min•Ep. 121
Welcome to Episode 120, which is the first of two episodes covering my in-depth chat with Carey Evans and Simon Rhind-Tutt, Co-Founders of Relationship Audits®. I met Simon and Carey many years ago when I was working as client services director for Publicis life Brands. We were struggling with a client relationship, it was a very important client but it wasn't going well. Whilst we knew some of the reasons why the relationship was faltering, we didn’t know the whole story, so we invited in Simon...
Aug 20, 2024•41 min•Ep. 120
Welcome to episode 119. Today's episode is for you if you're curious to understand how another agency works, particularly when it comes to how they manage their client relationships and how they sell their services. I’m joined by David Huckerby, the owner, and Natasha Jones, the Account Director of creative communications agency, Conteur. Conteur is an award-winning full service creative communications agency. They help organisations in the health and social care, housing and hospitality sectors...
Aug 06, 2024•47 min•Ep. 119
Welcome to episode 118. On the last episode, I interviewed the brilliant Tim Williams from Ignition Consulting group about pricing strategies and why agencies need to sell outputs and value and not hours, particularly given the rise of generative AI. If you haven't listened to that, I'd recommend you go back and listen to episode 117 because Tim shares so many different aspects of why we need to do this as agencies. Today's guest, founder of Lodestar Agency Consulting Brian Kessman, continues th...
Jul 23, 2024•54 min•Ep. 118
Welcome to episode 117. This episode is going to be very relevant for you if you're responsible for pricing your agency's services. I first saw Tim Williams, Founding Partner of Ignition Consulting Group, speak at an IPA conference in London in 2016. He was talking to agency owners about why they needed to ditch the billable hour if they wanted a profitable business. I've been following Tim's work in agency pricing and positioning ever since, and for me, he's been the consistent voice of sanity ...
Jul 09, 2024•49 min•Ep. 117
Welcome to episode 116. This episode is for you if you are responsible for managing projects in an agency. This one could be quite controversial, but equally very enlightening because my guest is going to be potentially challenging your belief about the role of project management. Jack's Skeel’s book is called ‘UNMANAGED’ and Jack makes a very compelling case for the fact that teams work more effectively when managed less, not more. During this chat we cover: • why agencies should be asking them...
Jun 18, 2024•47 min•Ep. 116
Welcome to episode 115. If you're in agency new business or account management and responsible for contract renewals and account expansion, you're in for a huge treat because Tim Riesterer, author of ‘The Expansion Sale’ (Four Must-Win Conversations to Keep and Grow Your Customers), joins me. Tim is a powerhouse and working with huge enterprises in this area, but he also has a background working in agencies. We discussed data backed insight into: • the real reason prospects buy and how to change...
Jun 04, 2024•49 min•Ep. 115
Welcome to Episode 114. If you're an agency owner who wants to stand out in a competitive market, then today's guest has written an entire book about it. Gareth Healey, author of "STAND OUT OR DIE" joins me to share: - what he learned from scaling and exiting his business - his seven step framework for standing out in a crowded marketplace - and his advice for other agency owners who want to productize their services and Stay competitive in the future. You can connect with Gareth Healey on Linke...
May 21, 2024•48 min•Ep. 114
Welcome to episode 113. This will be particularly inspirational for you if you are currently a small agency owner with aspirations for huge growth. Jared Lopiccolo, CEO & Co-Founder of Noble Studios, built his agency from a single laptop to a multi million dollar agency. He shares some insight into what it took to achieve that growth and also his advice for other agency owners who may want to do the same thing. Jarrod also shares: • the pivotal moments that were the growth accelerator points...
May 07, 2024•43 min•Ep. 113
Welcome to episode 112. I’m joined by Shannyn Lee, Managing Director of Win Without Pitching ®, which is widely recognised by the creative industry as one of the best quality sales training programs because it's specifically tailored to agencies. This episode will be particularly valuable for you if your job at the agency is winning new business and you'd like to know how to do that without having to go through a costly pitch process. During our chat, Shannyn shares: - the Win Without Pitching ®...
Apr 23, 2024•40 min•Ep. 112
Welcome to episode 111. This episode will be particularly relevant for you if you're heading up the agency or you're in charge of an agency team. Alison Coward is the founder of Bracket, a consultancy that partners with ambitious, forward-thinking companies to help them build high-performing and collaborative team cultures. She is a culture strategist, workshop facilitator, coach, trainer, keynote speaker and author of “A Pocket Guide to Effective Workshops” and “Workshop Culture: a guide to bui...
Apr 09, 2024•37 min•Ep. 111
