Enabling Organic Growth in Agencies

True & North’s Client-centred Thinking at Publicis

The media and marketing landscape is more fragmented and multifaceted than ever.

To meet this challenge, agencies have proactively expanded their offer. From Social Commerce and Business Consulting to Tech Audits and AR/VR Experiences, agency complexity has also grown.

Many agencies are also questioning their business model, choosing to move from billable hours to more robust product-based fees.

Launching a new product or service is a first step — getting clients to buy into it on an ongoing basis is what defines success.

SELLING ‘NEW’ REQUIRES NEW SKILLS

Client leaders at agencies are working on problems they haven’t seen before — the expectation to advise across a portfolio that ranges from the technical to the creative challenges their confidence.

They don’t feel like experts anymore. Without the skills to adapt, they will struggle to succeed, fostering anxiety within their team.

With so much uncertainty, one needs to wonder where to begin this quest for organic growth.

The good news is that there is a proven approach, that pays back within the same financial year and is relatively simple to implement — training.

There are three main areas to focus your efforts in driving long-lasting mindset and skills shifts to drive organic growth.

1. People

Start by prioritising strategic account teams for maximum impact: high growth opportunity accounts, new accounts, and those in ‘defend’.

Then focus on people who own revenue or have a strategic role in those accounts.

Finally, organise cohorts around real clients and situations: via category streams or client ‘problems’.

1. Product

Select a few products or service areas to focus on — even if there’s pressure to include more! Too many products lead to ineffectiveness.

Go beyond features, benefits, and use cases. Your people must understand how to ‘test’ if a client needs a product as well as the known challenges and risks associated with it (this is where Product Knowledge and Consultative Sales Skills have to overlap).

1. Skills

Delivering organic growth depends on your people’s ability to articulate value anchored in clients’ worlds’, to open up conversations beyond Business as Usual, to enrol clients into your solutions (test their appetite for your products) and get ahead of risks before they impact opportunities.

Make sure to avoid any of the 3 scenarios below, as they will require significant effort for the organisation, however, they are not enough to drive organic growth:

1. People + Products: The right people know your products, but they don’t have the skills to prepare for, deliver and protect organic growth conversations.
2. Products + Skills: Some of your people can drive organic growth through your products, but their impact is limited, and they struggle to apply it to their day-to-day.
3. People + Skills: The right people know how to drive organic growth, but they can’t connect it back to your key products.

The ability to drive long-lasting change will depend on having the right people who possess the product knowledge and the skills to drive organic growth, whatever the context they’re operating in.