# Growing your agency Source: https://felixvelarde.com/articles/category/Growing+your+agency Articles on growing an agency: pricing, hiring, referrals, case studies, the leadership team and the quarterly review, by Felix Velarde. [Growing your agency](https://felixvelarde.com/articles/category/Growing+your+agency) ## [Bags of cash](https://felixvelarde.com/articles/bags-of-cash) In 2007 we showed Virgin Holidays every pound in returned twenty-six. The budget doubled. AI now asks every agency a blunt question. Efficiency is no answer. [Read More: Bags of cash](https://felixvelarde.com/articles/bags-of-cash) [Growing your agency](https://felixvelarde.com/articles/category/Growing+your+agency) ## [Twenty per cent growth is standing still](https://felixvelarde.com/articles/twenty-per-cent-growth-is-standing-still) Take inflation, wage inflation and one lost client off a 20 per cent growth target and the agency ends the year where it started. Two years, three times. [Read More: Twenty per cent growth is standing still](https://felixvelarde.com/articles/twenty-per-cent-growth-is-standing-still) [Growing your agency](https://felixvelarde.com/articles/category/Growing+your+agency) ## [Your leadership team cannot scale you](https://felixvelarde.com/articles/your-leadership-team-cannot-scale-you) Your senior leadership team was hired to preserve what exists. Growth is a different job, done by a Growth Lab team drawn from every level of the business. [Read More: Your leadership team cannot scale you](https://felixvelarde.com/articles/your-leadership-team-cannot-scale-you) [Growing your agency](https://felixvelarde.com/articles/category/Growing+your+agency) ## [Swallows in a nest](https://felixvelarde.com/articles/swallows-in-a-nest) The charisma that gets an agency to its first million teaches the team to wait to be fed. Past two or three million that becomes a ceiling, felt as stress. [Read More: Swallows in a nest](https://felixvelarde.com/articles/swallows-in-a-nest) [Growing your agency](https://felixvelarde.com/articles/category/Growing+your+agency) ## [The case study problem](https://felixvelarde.com/articles/the-case-study-problem) Good team, strong clients, four case studies on the website, the newest from 2022. One short case study a month roughly doubled contact page conversion. [Read More: The case study problem](https://felixvelarde.com/articles/the-case-study-problem) [Growing your agency](https://felixvelarde.com/articles/category/Growing+your+agency) ## [The founder's network](https://felixvelarde.com/articles/the-founders-network) All ten of an agency's last clients came through the founder personally. Nine months later, 40 per cent of new business came through channels without him. [Read More: The founder's network](https://felixvelarde.com/articles/the-founders-network) [Growing your agency](https://felixvelarde.com/articles/category/Growing+your+agency) ## [The quiet client](https://felixvelarde.com/articles/the-quiet-client) Three clients left in eight weeks with no complaints and high survey scores. The work had drifted into maintenance. Nobody had done anything wrong. [Read More: The quiet client](https://felixvelarde.com/articles/the-quiet-client) [Growing your agency](https://felixvelarde.com/articles/category/Growing+your+agency) ## [The wrong hire](https://felixvelarde.com/articles/the-wrong-hire) A head of new business produced nothing in six months. The proposition could have described any mid-size agency. The next hire closed two clients in a quarter. [Read More: The wrong hire](https://felixvelarde.com/articles/the-wrong-hire) [Growing your agency](https://felixvelarde.com/articles/category/Growing+your+agency) ## [The quarterly review](https://felixvelarde.com/articles/the-quarterly-review) An agency's first real quarterly review found designers at 115 per cent utilisation and the biggest service line the least profitable. Half an hour of clarity. [Read More: The quarterly review](https://felixvelarde.com/articles/the-quarterly-review) [Growing your agency](https://felixvelarde.com/articles/category/Growing+your+agency) ## [The referral system](https://felixvelarde.com/articles/the-referral-system) Her new business came from referrals and she had no idea which clients sent them or why. A referral practice is a habit: know your advocates and ask. [Read More: The referral system](https://felixvelarde.com/articles/the-referral-system) [Growing your agency](https://felixvelarde.com/articles/category/Growing+your+agency) ## [The pricing problem](https://felixvelarde.com/articles/the-pricing-problem) Day rates unchanged since 2020 meant the agency cut its price by RPI every year while clients raised theirs. Raise prices annually, without apologising. [Read More: The pricing problem](https://felixvelarde.com/articles/the-pricing-problem) [Growing your agency](https://felixvelarde.com/articles/category/Growing+your+agency) ## [The annual offsite](https://felixvelarde.com/articles/the-annual-offsite) Two days in a country house produced a fifty-six-page strategy nobody could recall by January. Agencies that execute commit to fewer things, not tidier ones. [Read More: The annual offsite](https://felixvelarde.com/articles/the-annual-offsite) [Growing your agency](https://felixvelarde.com/articles/category/Growing+your+agency) ## [The Growth Lab team](https://felixvelarde.com/articles/the-growth-lab-team) Strategy days produced plans nobody executed. A small team of future leaders who research, design and pilot the changes themselves changed the execution rate. [Read More: The Growth Lab team](https://felixvelarde.com/articles/the-growth-lab-team) [Growing your agency](https://felixvelarde.com/articles/category/Growing+your+agency) ## [Research, prototype, implement](https://felixvelarde.com/articles/research-prototype-implement) I once built a service line in a month and buried it in three. The method I use now is slow at the front: research, small pilot, then roll-out. [Read More: Research, prototype, implement](https://felixvelarde.com/articles/research-prototype-implement) [Growing your agency](https://felixvelarde.com/articles/category/Growing+your+agency) ## [The state of agencies](https://felixvelarde.com/articles/the-state-of-agencies) A very wide-ranging interview by best selling author Minter Dial in which Felix discusses his values, the state of the agency industry, the science behind – and methods for – scaling, the mechanics of profit growth, goal setting and much more. [Read More: The state of agencies](https://felixvelarde.com/articles/the-state-of-agencies) [Growing your agency](https://felixvelarde.com/articles/category/Growing+your+agency) ## [How to cure leadership procrastination](https://felixvelarde.com/articles/how-to-cure-leadership-procrastination) Exploring how leadership procrastination on major business decisions can be overcome by answering five key questions, emphasizing that effective leadership requires making decisive choices even when faced with uncertainty. [Read More: How to cure leadership procrastination](https://felixvelarde.com/articles/how-to-cure-leadership-procrastination) [Growing your agency](https://felixvelarde.com/articles/category/Growing+your+agency) ## [How to develop a winning value proposition for your agency](https://felixvelarde.com/articles/how-to-develop-a-winning-value-proposition-for-your-agency) Agencies can achieve greater success and value by identifying and focusing exclusively on a specialised niche where they can be the best, rather than trying to compete as a generalist against thousands of similar firms. [Read More: How to develop a winning value proposition for your agency](https://felixvelarde.com/articles/how-to-develop-a-winning-value-proposition-for-your-agency) ## Let’s talk If you’re serious about building significant value, preparing for an exit, or executing a roll-up strategy, get in touch below. I’ll respond personally.