Fall is a season of dramatic change here in New England. The colorful leaves bring visitors from near and far to admire the beauty.
And then we enter gray season. As I look out my window now, I see foggy drizzle, barren trees, and lots of brown leaves on my lawn.
As with any change, we adapt. We alter our patterns and engage in different activities as the weather shifts.
In business, we must be prepared to do the same.
I’ll explore this a bit more later in this week’s newsletter, but first, let’s look at what Jen has rounded up for us this week.
— Chip Griffin, SAGA Founder
P.S. The Agency Leadership Podcast is on a bit of a hiatus. I’ll explain why below, in the spirit of change.
Jen’s Weekly Roundup
Here’s what caught my eye this week:
ASK AI WHO YOUR AGENCY IS. YOU MIGHT NOT LIKE THE ANSWER — Lee McKnight Jr at RSW/US found agency referrals dropped from 76% to 44% in a year, because prospects increasingly ask a chatbot for a recommendation instead of a colleague. Referrals are still useful, but if they’re your only tactic, you might be in trouble.
AI VISIBILITY IS PR’S THIRD CHANCE, AND GINI SAYS DON’T BLOW IT — Only 3% of PR pros think PR owns AI visibility, and Gini Dietrich at Spin Sucks isn’t having it. PR already lost SEO and the 2020 crisis-response moment because somebody else moved first, so she sees 2027 planning as PR’s third shot at claiming work it keeps handing to other departments. Third time’s the charm?
KNOWLEDGE IS EVERYWHERE, TRUST ISN’T — Blair Enns says on 2Bobs that AI’s flood of knowledge product means that trust and reputation are now what create demand, not supply. Karen Swim and Michelle Kane also highlight reputation on That Solo Life. Manipulated video clips of executives are now a standard risk, and the agencies that handle it best built trust and the owned channels before they needed them, not afterwards.
YOU’RE STILL THE BOTTLENECK — Mark Skalla tells Sharon Toerek on The Innovative Agency that most founders mistake being busy for being necessary. His fix isn’t more delegation, it’s a decision audit that shows an owner what’s actually consuming their time so they can hand off the judgment calls, not just the tasks.
YOUR CLIENTS SHOULDN’T HEAR IT LAST — Cass Bailey of Slice Communications tells Steve Guberman on Agency Bytes that 60 to 70 percent of acquisitions fail to deliver their intended value, mostly over how the news gets communicated. Employees shouldn’t be learning their company was sold from a press release, and clients should hear about it from the people they’ve come to trust.
OVERWORKED AND UNDERPAID — Sean Harris tells Parakeeto’s Carson Pierce that agencies are more overworked and billing less, largely because most overservice without tracking it, and half avoided raising prices despite rising costs. We’ve said it before, but accurate time tracking and charging clients correctly are key to profitability. Unrelated, I’ll be right back, I need to log my time for the last month or so.
DON’T PANIC BUT IT’S ALMOST 2027 — Karl Sakas gives us his 11th annual guide to agency conferences, with the reminder that the ones you decide to attend next year should be based on the decisions you need to make, not the places you want to visit.
— Jen Griffin, SAGA Community Manager
Be flexible and open to change
The transition of seasons is one of those changes that’s relatively easy to plan for. We know roughly when to expect them, and they are a cycle that repeats year after year.
In business, some change is predictable, but a lot of it can be unexpected.
Part of being an agency owner is learning not only to accept this change but to embrace it.
At SAGA, we’re in a period of change, too.
First, the Agency Leadership Podcast is on hiatus for a few months because my co-host Gini Dietrich and I struggled to align our calendars for consistent recording. We hope to be able to get back to it in the new year.
In the meantime, that frees up time to explore other ideas and initiatives.
Second, I’m finding myself spending more time with slightly larger clients than I have in the past few years.
When the pandemic hit and I moved to remote, video-based consulting for agencies instead of on-site engagements, it opened the door to working with smaller agencies that I could never have reached previously.
That was very gratifying, and it worked well for agencies who needed to figure out how to transition into a new way of doing things.
Today, I’m working with slightly larger clients and spending a lot more time on AI innovation with them than on simply the basics of good agency management.
I have always enjoyed change because I prefer facing new challenges rather than reliably repeating the same solutions.
Others find change scary, but it’s an important part of the entrepreneurial journey. And in today’s communications and marketing environment, you can’t avoid change if you want to succeed.
Rather than simply trying to find ways to survive the change that surrounds you, look to find ways to embrace it and thrive.
The more flexible you are, and the more open you are to finding new paths that change presents, the more likely you are to find the success that you want.
