Small Spark Theory: a marginal gains approach to new business and marketing (Lucy Mann)

December 2023 marks seven years of Small Spark Theory. Mindblowing then that’s it’s taken this long for a dedicated episode on the topic of proposals - such a crucial element of the new business process but a perennial pain point all the same. 

Joe Ardeeser was so determined to find a better solution for turning around compelling proposals for his digital agency that he designed his own software. And so Smart Pricing Table was born. 

Joe joins me in this episode to discuss the thinking behind the software; the power of packaged services; the proposal as a collaborative tool between agency and prospect and Joe’s love of marginal gains. 

As always we’ll be giving away a copy of Joe’s recommended read: Good to Great by Jim Collins. Listen in to find out how to win. 

Also mentioned in this episode:

10 Rules Every Agency Must Follow For Winning Proposals

Built to Last by Jim Collins

Sell Like Crazy by Sabri Suby

Thanks for listening this year. We’ll be back in 2024 with more conversations and more marginal gains designed to help you attract and win more business. 

Enjoy the festive season!

This episode is sponsored by E2M, the #1 white label digital agency partner. Visit https://www.e2msolutions.com/smallsparktheory/ to enjoy 20% discount on your first month.

As we wrap up 2024 with this final episode, I’ve been reflecting on the many conversations I’ve had with agencies throughout the year, as well as the recurring themes shared by our amazing podcast guests.

It’s been a challenging year for many, which makes this the perfect moment to focus on an invaluable asset every agency has, no matter its size, discipline, or sector: our people.

So in this episode, we’re diving into how empowering our people through effective leadership and a strong culture can drive real growth. Joining me is culture transformation coach Zoe Tuffs from Times Ten.

Together, we’ll unpack some of the biggest leadership challenges agencies face—like ignoring culture issues, promoting "accidental managers" without proper support, and overvaluing productivity metrics at the expense of meaningful outcomes.

Zoe will also share her top tips for creating lasting change in 2025 and of course, we'll be uncovering more opportunities for marginal gains.

And don’t forget, we’ve got a book giveaway! Join the conversation on LinkedIn or Instagram using #SmallSparkTheory, and you could win a copy of Reculturing by Melissa Daimler, Zoe’s must-read recommendation.

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Connect with Zoe on LinkedIn here: to discover more insights on transforming your people & culture strategy, values-led leadership development and team dynamics.

Book a free 30-minute chemistry call: here to explore how Zoe can help you achieve your goals.

See the impact: Watch a client success video here showing the outcomes achieved with Sledge; a creative film and live experience agency.

Transform your people strategy: Explore Times Ten's People & Growth Workshop here. (There’s a 20% discount for Small Spark Theory listeners using the code **SST20**).

Just as customer and user experience is now paramount for consumer brands, of course the the same rules apply for B2B. There will always be other agencies who can deliver a comparable service for a comparable price, but it is the experienceof working with an agency which will influence selection, keep clients coming back for more and generate referrals. But hang on a minute - isn’t that where chemistry comes in? Well yes it is, but chemistry isn’t scalable, or reliable for that matter. What I’m really talking about is the end to end experience and the processes we can put in place to truly delight clients and prospects, beyond the delivery of great work.

And yet rarely do we take the opportunity to truly put ourselves in our clients or prospects shoes, to understand just how user friendly we really are. Our reporting, meetings, emails, websites, project management processes and more are all fertile ground for identifying marginal gains.  

This is an episode I’ve been wanting to make for a while so I was delighted when Nick Phippsgot in touch from Rawnet. In true, “physician heal thyself” style, Rawnet are in the process of applying the customer centric principles and strategies they use for their clients’ businesses, to their own agency. We got together to chat about how it’s working out.

And we have another competition for you. You can win a copy of Nick’s recommended read:  The Ten Principles Behind Great Customer Experiences by Matt Watkinson- just listen in for more details.

No matter how many people I speak with on the topic of agency leadership, every conversation brings a fresh perspective. And none more so than this conversation with Steve Parks of Convivio.

Earlier this year Steve and I were both named as “Inspiring People” in the BenchPress report from The Wow Company, something we were both so chuffed about that we reached out across the internet for a for a virtual high five. Our resulting conversation was so interesting that I knew I wanted to get Steve to chat on here.

In this episode we explore the wider role of agencies, high altitude leadership, the many hats of an agency leader and a window into the world of a private investigator!

Of course, we are giving away a copy of Steve’s recommended read: Organize for Complexity: How to Get Life Back Into Work to Build the High-Performance Organization by Niels Pflaeging, simply join in the conversation on Twitter, LinkedIn or Instagram using #smallsparktheory and we’ll pick a winner.

Further reading and listening:

What are agencies for? https://www.convivio.com/blog/what-are-agencies-for/

Too many hats: https://www.convivio.com/blog/too-many-hats/

Your day at the top: https://www.convivio.com/blog/your-day-at-the-top/

The Agency Radar Report: https://www.agencyradar.io/radar/

The Convivio Agency Leaders podcast: https://www.convivio.com/podcast/

Bench Press Agency Inspiration Report

Winning new clients has never been straightforward. But after the upheaval of the last few years, last year in particular we saw an added complication - resource.

And of course that scarcity of talent naturally increased salary expectations, meaning that profit margins on new and existing projects were being squeezed even further. 

For this episode I speak to Manish Dudharejia, founder and president of E2M Solutions (and I'm very proud to say, sponsor of Small Spark Theory) about how his 180 strong team support over 150 agencies with white label digital services to take the pain out of the scaling and resourcing process. 

We explore how Manish's desire to build a people over profit business has created a powerful niche which allows him to focus hiring and developing specialist digital talent, allowing agencies to focus on building their client relationships, all while protecting profit margins. 

We'll be giving away a copy of Manish's recommended read: Measure What Matters: The Simple Ideas that Drives 10x Growth by John Doerr, listen in to find out how to win. 

Also mentioned in this episode:

Traction: Get a Grip on your Business by Gino Wickman

Atomic Habits by James Clear

E2M introductory offer for Small Spark Theory listeners

This episode is sponsored by E2M, the #1 white label digital agency partner.

Generally speaking our growth objectives will start with the financials – the revenue goals, the profit margin targets and the scale those numbers will then afford us – the extra bodies, extra offices, extra services – or even exit!

This focus on the numbers is essential but we should quickly translate these targets into the kinds of relationships we need to add into the business. Adding lots of clients who deliver short term revenue is what keeps us on the hamster wheel, whereas building strategic relationships, allows us to build not only sustainable revenue but that holy grail that comes with true advocacy – referrals!

We talked a lot about the theory of client development with Iain Johnston in episode 26 of Small Spark Theory, and in this episode we return to the subject with Jim Hawker from Threepipe.

An independent, owner-managed digital agency of 90 people delivering SEO, PR, social, search, display and creative, Threepipe are hot property. At the time of writing, they have been shortlisted for the Holmes Report Digital Consultancy of the year and have achieved20% growth for the third consecutive year, with 20% margins. Impressive stuff.

Jim and I discuss the practical implications of client development planning, relationship building, client satisfaction, motivation and much, much more.

Listen in to win a copy of Jim’s recommended read The Four by Scott Galloway.

Pivot, Scott's podcast with Kara Swisher can be found here .

How much of your agency revenue comes from overseas clients? Did you know that the US is the largest recipient of UK exports, receiving £3.9bn worth of advertising and market research services, – a value that has more than tripled since 2020?

In this episode I chat to Kat Thay, Co-Founder of K&C, Co-President of the Austin Advertising Federation. Since moving to Texas in 2018 Kat’s flair for research, networking and connecting talent has revealed lucrative opportunities for UK agencies looking either to break into the US or expand their existing US revenues.

Building on this insight, Katalyst now supports agencies to confidently navigate and succeed in the US market. We discuss the perceptions of cost and quality of UK creativity and the industry and state-specific nuances of doing business overseas.

We’ll be giving away a copy of Kat’s recommended read: The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell. Listen in to find out how to win.

This episode is sponsored by E2M, the #1 white label digital agency partner. Visit https://www.e2msolutions.com/smallsparktheory/ to enjoy 20% discount on your first month.  

Ian Harris has been running Agency Hackers for the last four years, providing a community of agencies with insight, education and support.

Ian joins to me to reflect on a year of twists and turns and look ahead to 2021.

As always we’ll be giving away a copy of Ian’s recommended read: Charlatan: The Fraudulent Life of John Brinkley.

So don your Christmas jumper, grab a mince pie and settle in. The end is in sight.

Iris now numbers over 1000 people across 17 offices worldwide. As agency breakaways go, it is a perfect case study. But of course, what interests me is the new business story. Claire has spent the past 7 years leading the agency’s global new business operations, driving growth across the network and winning some of the agency’s biggest integrated pitches.

In this episode we get together to discuss new business leadership and culture, the importance of the marketing calendar, marginal gains and making your own luck.

As we shape up for the final marketing and new business push of the year and begin planning for 2022, this is just the inspiration you need.

As always we’ll be giving away a copy of Claire’s recommended read, The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a F**k by Sarah Knight listen in to find out how to win. 

This is a phrase I have repeated many times during my engagements with agencies over the years, and one I stand by now more than ever.

LinkedIn has become an incredible tool to support new business, but in many cases, agencies are only just scratching the surface of how they can leverage the platform to expand and engage their networks, whilst showcasing expertise.

And since the introduction of Sales Navigator, I’ve been searching for a true ‘super-user’ to join me on the podcast and really get to grips with the functionality on offer. So it was fitting that through LinkedIn, I found the brilliant Alex Low, Head of Social Selling at Digital Leadership Associates.

Having spent many years working in property, recruitment, management consultancy and law, Alex now advises a wide range of professional services businesses, empowering fee earners, business development and marketing teams to leverage the power of their networks to drive better, more relevant business conversations through social.

So if you’ve been wondering how to get started with LinkedIn, or how to unlock the next level of network engagement – this episode is for you.

We’ll be giving away a copy of Alex’s recommended read: Technology vs. Humanity: The coming clash between man and machine by Gerd Leonhard just listen in to find out how to win.

Also recommended in this episode are:

Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence by Max Tegmark https://www.foyles.co.uk/witem/computing-it/life-30-being-human-in-the-age-of-arti,max-tegmark-9780141981802?term=life+30

Salim Ismail on Exponential Organizations

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNQSM4ipZog

For more information on how to make the most of LinkedIn you can see the full collection of Alex’s guides here

There is no doubt these are troubling times. As the economic storm clouds gather, we are all bracing ourselves for some pain in the months ahead as marketing spends come under pressure.

But what concerns me most is the timing. For most of this year, I’ve witnessed agencies juggling an influx of projects, finally unlocked after the stranglehold of the pandemic, with the twin challenges of resourcing and post-Covid working practices.

Inevitably, when all hands are to the pump to deliver and bill client work, even the best laid new business and marketing plans fall by the wayside. And now, more than ever, this cannot happen.

So before we head into the most important window in the new business and marketing calendar, in this episode I share the best advice I can give to any agency, struggling with resource, knowing they are neglecting the pipeline and worried about the forecast six months from now.

Of course if you want to talk in confidence about any of the issues raised in this episode, please get in touch at lucy@gunpowderconsulting.com

Referenced in this episode:

Rory Spence at Wow Company

Blair Enns on pricing

Kelly Molson on marketing

IPA Bellwether

Understanding how clients are buying agency services is fundamental to how we shape our new business and marketing strategies and processes.

In recent episodes we’ve heard perspectives from procurement expert Tina Fegent and lead generation expert Alex Sibille, so it feels only fitting to add an intermediary point of view into the mix.

Dominic Glenn heads up the Brand Services offer at Ingenuity and joins us to share insights gleaned from years of client / agency speed dating events and helping brands navigate the agency landscape,  either to build an entire roster or solve a particular knotty challenge.

As always there are marginal gains aplenty and a book competition. Listen in for your chance to win a copy of Brothers Emanuel by Ezekiel J. Emanuel. 

Do feel free to get in touch with Dominic via LinkedIn to introduce your agency!

Also mentioned in this episode:

Ingenuity acquires rival Future Factory

Recent pitch news 

This episode is sponsored by E2M, the #1 white label digital agency partner. Visit https://www.e2msolutions.com/smallsparktheory/ to enjoy 20% discount on your first month.  

In this episode I am joined by Tony Walford - founding partner of Green Square and one of the leading M&A and corporate advisory voices in the marketing communications, media and tech sectors.

Tony offers advice on what agency owners need to plan and prepare for, including the often tricky process of demonstrating ROI to clients (awards are critical!), why incentivising your staff is essential, along with key attributes in client relationships that are attractive to potential buyers.

Mentioned in this episode are:

The Diagrams Book by Kevin Duncan

Sad Men by Dave Roberts.

Details on the Green Square Ascension Day can also be found here.

Not only that we have our monthly competition! Listen in to find out how to win a copy of Tony’s recommended book ‘Sad Men’ by Dave Roberts.

Just in time for the holidays, this really is a really is the perfect sunlounger episode,  so put your feet up and kick back with a G + T. Stay cool gang.

Here we are at the beginning of 2024 and it feels fitting for our first episode of the year to celebrate change.

Last Summer, 40 year old agency Thompson Brand Partners rebranded as ThreeTenSeven - the final iteration of the agency’s repositioning following a management buy-out in 2019.

At a time when we have seen so much uncertainty, in the economy, our working practices and our client’s changing needs, I was inspired by the confidence of this move, and wanted to find out more.

In this episode I talk to Managing Director Rachel Cook, about the process the team went through to bring about this change, the implications for the agency’s new business and marketing and that small matter of showcasing diversity in leadership.

Rachel’s recommended read is How to Have a Good Day by Caroline Webb, listen in to find out how to win a copy.

As discussed in this episode we are always delighted to hear from potential guests with stories and expertise to share. If that’s you, please get in touch at lucy@gunpowderconsulting.com

This episode is sponsored by E2M, the #1 white label digital agency partner. Visit https://www.e2msolutions.com/smallsparktheory/ to enjoy 20% discount on your first month.

I have met many agencies over the years who have had ideas for spinning out their own products. 

The outcomes have been varied. From those who have successfully launched and created additional revenue streams, to those who have continued to scale and ultimately sell their product business. For many though, the constant pull of client projects and the day to day demands of running an agency mean that many brilliant product ideas just never make it out of the agency doors. 

In this episode I speak with Paul Halfpenny, Co-Founder and CTO of digital agency Filter, just as the agency launches PersonalizeWP. 

We discuss the importance of defining and getting behind the ‘right’ idea for the agency. The challenges of managing resource, securing investment and launching to market all while keeping the agency ticking along with a happy team and clients. 

Paul’s recommended read is Men at Arms by Terry Pratchett. Listen in to find out how to win a copy. 

This episode is sponsored by E2M, the #1 white label digital agency partner. Visit https://www.e2msolutions.com/smallsparktheory/ to enjoy 20% discount on your first month.

Further reading:

The Marketer's Guide to Personalisation

5 Ways To Use PersonalizeWP To Personalise Your WordPress Website

If you've enjoyed this episode, please consider sharing it with someone or even better, leave a review - it really makes our day!

So, we finish the year with the first of our client perspective episodes. Katie Pattison has been managing marketing budgets at FTSE100 businesses for 25 years, during which time she has hired agencies of all shapes, sizes, and disciplines.

In this interview, Katie shares her experience of agency new business approaches, lasting agency relationships, and her top tips or gaining and retaining clients.

As always, we’ll be giving away a copy of Katie’s recommended read The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. Listen in to find out how to win.

We’ve loved producing Small Spark Theory this year and have been overwhelmed by your feedback. We’ll be back in the New Year, chatting with more clients and experts and will be unveiling details of a very special Small Spark Theory event. For more details, sign up for our newsletter here or for more information on improving your agency new businesses effectiveness, please get in touch here.

Have a wonderful festive break and see you in 2018.

I’m not really one for resolutions, but there is something about a new year that makes me want to clear the decks, remove distractions and create a renewed sense of focus. A new notebook and a tidy Dropbox tend to help but I find data the most useful tool. Whether that’s marketing data, new business pipeline analysis or attributing the source of new client wins, good data removes emotion and really allows us to identify marginal gains.

With this in mind I wanted our first episode of the year to focus on agency performance data – and who better to talk to than The Wow Company.

This year, Wow launches the 10th annual BenchPress report, the largest survey of independent agencies in the UK, so I invited Rory Spence to join me to pick through a decade of statistics and uncover the insights that can give us confidence – or caution – for the year ahead.

Spoiler alert – you might need to increase your prices!

Whatever your agency plans are for this year I hope you are feeling refreshed, energised and inspired. Let’s make 2022 one to remember.

You can find all the previous BenchPress reports here and contribute to the 2022 report here.

Rory’s recommended read is I’m an Agency Owner, Get Me Out of Here by Jonathan Leafe.

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I’ll admit, I was worried how this transformative approach to pricing would fit into this series, where we explore how we can implement small changes to our sales and marketing toolkit and processes, but rest assured, as Blair explains in this episode, there are changes you can make today that will reap tangible rewards.

I know I say this every time but this is one episode you really won’t want to miss!

You can hear more about mastering the value conversation in Blair’s discussion with David C Baker in this episode of 2Bobs.

Blair and David will be reprising their new business summit for one time only this summer for the DBA. You can find details of tickets here, but be quick, this is likely to sell out fast!

We have a phenomenal prize for one lucky listener, tune in to find out how to win.

Also mentioned in this episode Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman

Sound the new business klaxon! You’ve got an opportunity to meet the prospect of your dreams.

That first meeting, the pitch, the first strategy or creative presentation with any new prospect or client is a huge opportunity to dazzle, yet this last precarious mile of securing the business can so often be derailed by nerves, lack of preparation or simply lack of experience.

How do you become an engaging presenter? How can you get rid of pre-pitch nerves? How can you make the very best first impression?

In this month’s podcast I’ll be exploring how we can make marginal gains with our communication and presentation skills with new business supremo and former actress Catherine Allison, founder of Master the Art.

You can also be in with a chance to win a copy of Catherine’s recommended book: Gravitas: Communicate with Confidence, Influence and Authority by Caroline Goyder

You can find out more about Master the Art via the below links:

www.mastertheart.co.uk @mastertheartltd

How do you feel about the year ahead? Confident? Concerned? Uncertain?

Wherever you are on this spectrum, one thing we must be, is ready. 

I particularly like the work that Steve Parks does at Convivio because he focuses heavily on the macro issues facing clients and prospects and encourages agency leaders to use this insight to plan, adapt and respond as necessary. We discussed this approach when Steve joined me on the podcast back in episode 57, so I was keen to bring him back to get us in the right frame of mind for our first episode of 2023. 

This is a bumper conversation, full of solid insight and brilliant, practical advice. We discuss some familar themes from last year and identify the potential hurdles and opportunties that lie ahead.

As always we'll be giving away a copy of Steve's recommended read: The Alliance by Reid Hoffman- listen in to find out how to win. 

Also mentioned in this episode:

Books

Anti-fragile: things that gain from disorder by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

So Good They Can't Ignore You by Cal Newport

The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz

Further reading

The Agency Radar

High Altitude Thinking

The True Hope of Optimistic Pessimism

Support

The Trussell Trust New Business Trouble Shoot

Roland joined us on the podcast in January 2020 to help us unpick some agency messaging pitfalls. So many people loved that episode and got in touch with Treacle for help, that it seemed only fitting get together again and take stock of where we are now.

How has the landscape changed in the last two years? Should we be thinking differently about difference? Is niching still the answer?

Listen in as we discuss all this and more. Roland’s recommended read is The Advertising Concept Book: Think Now, Design Later by Pete Barry.

So in this episode I wanted to explore one underused skills in building relationships. Listening. 

Catherine Allison, founder of Master the Art is a trained actress and new business practitioner who works with teams and individuals to help build confidence and gravitas.    

Catherine joined us back in episode three to talk more broadly about how we can hone our presentation and communication skills. In this episode we got together to talk specifically about listening - the benefits of active listening and some simple steps to make sure we are all making the most of our conversations, either with new business prospects, our existing clients, even out teams.

As always we have a giveaway for you. Listen in to find out how to win a copy of Catherine’s recommended read: Do Listen by Bobette Buster.

With endless technology options, flexible workspaces, and an increasing supply of freelance talent, the barrier to entry is lower than ever for budding agency founders.

So far so good. And yet I’ve met so many founders of small, start-up agencies who are reticent to show their size or ‘virtual’ status for fear of putting off potential clients.

For this episode, I met with the multi-tasking design thinker and doer Emma Sexton, CEO of MYWW™, creator of the Inside Out Awards and co-presenter of TalkRadio's Badass Women’s Hour.

I wanted to find out how Emma has perfected her remote-first agency without compromising on ambition. Are clients willing to try something new? Or is there still safety in size?

Tune in to find out more and be in with the chance of winning a copy of Emma’s recommended read: The Courage To Be Disliked by Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga.

Over recent episodes we've been taking a deep dive into some very specific elements of agency marketing and prospecting. 

We revisited agency positioning with Roland Gurney at Treacle, really got to grips with thought leadership with Mark Wellings at Grist and in the last episode on relationships, Trenton Moss talked about the prospect communities he created and how they translated into billing clients. 

So for this episode I wanted to showcase an agency founder who has brought all of these elements together to really demonstrate how ANY agency can implement these ideas. 

Kelly Molson is co-founder of Rubber Cheese  a web development agency focussed on supporting the visitor attractions sector. We talk about the road to specialisation and positioning, and how immersing yourself in the challenges of your audience builds community, grows relationship, and in turn, your new business pipeline. 

For anyone who has found the strategies we discuss on this podcast interesting but perhaps inaccessible - maybe due to a perceived lack of time, resource or confidence, I urge you to listen to this episode and take inspiration from Kelly's experience. 

Kelly's recommended read is the evergreen How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie. We will of course be giving away a copy - listen in to find out how to win. 

For any visitor attraction owners or marketers listening, you can access the Rubber Cheese Visitor Attraction Website Survey here. 

Want to see how you can refine your new business strategy? Contact Lucy.

But what about the rest of the social media maze? Making the connection between social channels and new business results is troublesome for many and even when we think we should get involved, it’s easy to then lose momentum and enthusiasm.

Late last year the team at PR & new business agency Red Setter examined the social media presence of 200 agencies and interviewed 50 agency leaders and a range of experts to understand the barriers, benefits and secrets to winning at social media.

I invited Red Setter founders Alex and Claire Blyth into the Pod to find out about the results of their study, and get some top tips for our listeners.

You can download their report: The Guide to Agency Growth through Social Media here.

As always we have a competition! We’re giving away a copy of Alex’s recommended read, The Elements of Style by Strunk & White. Listen in to find out how to win.

But aside from simply understanding the client / prospect business attributes - structure, revenue model, audience, product and service lines, what we really need to get a handle on is change. What’s shifting for them? Buyer behaviour? The competition? Regulation? Supply chains? What does the change mean for them? I’d argue that a key differentiator in the best performing agencies is having a process for staying ahead of these issues and having more informed conversations with clients, a commitment of time that our traditionally lean servicing models often overlook.

However, as we stand here in 2021 blinking into the sunshine after the dull shock of the past year, there is change that we cannot ignore. Every client business will have been affected on some level from the pandemic, meanwhile the issues of sustainability, climate, diversity and inclusion are rightfully gaining traction. To ignore these challenges as we work together with our clients is missing a vital opportunity.

Someone who has been leading the charge for such conversations is Jennifer Crowley, Client Partner and Digital Sustainability Lead at Kin+ Carta and BIMA 100 Class of 2021.

In this episode we explore the benefits on engaging on broader businesses challenges and understanding shared values, and how, with such wide reaching topics, we can find marginal gains to build better client relationships.

As always we’ll be giving away a copy of Jennifer’s recommended read – Greener Marketing by John Grant.

Also mentioned in this episode:

https://www.kinandcarta.com/en/social-responsibility/

https://thegreenpages.bima.co.uk/the-green-pages/

https://www.londonspeechworkshop.com

And so it goes, the new business email, putting the fear into agency folk across the land. 

It’s no surprise. For many people, selling isn’t something that comes naturally. And trying to sell yourself, or your agency, in a blank email window while the cursor blinks impatiently back at you, is no mean feat. In my experience, many best laid plans to contact a painstakingly researched list of prospects stall at this point, or we manage to email a few, wring our hands, get no response, swear a bit and then give up.

Sound familiar? Then this episode is for you. Kimi Gilbert is Director of Training & Development at new business agency The Future Factory and trains her team, and agencies of all disciplines, in the art of writing new business emails that work.

Kimi joins me to share her top tips for getting email cut-through, based on years of data and client feedback. If you’re looking for a way to make marginal gains into your new business performance then this is the perfect place to start.

As always we have a competition for you, we’ll be giving away a copy of Kimi’s recommended book: You Are a Message: Meditations for the Creative Entrepreneur by Guillaume Wolf  - simply listen in to find out how to win. 

The next Winning New Business via Email course takes place in March, places are limited but you can find out more information or book tickets here.

Thought leadership – in its various forms, is a topic we have covered in a number of episodes over the years. Done well, it can be a game-changer for agency marketing, sparking and re-igniting meaningful prospect and client conversations. However, there are a number common hurdles I tend to encounter when speaking with agency founders which means that great content either never gets made, or worse, is created but not optimised.

To really get to grips with how to master thought leadership I got together with Mark Wellings, co-founder and client services director at specialist thought leadership agency Grist. Mark and his team work with leading B2B brands like PwC, PA Consulting and DLA Piper delivering insight-led programmes designed to fuel sales pipelines.

In this episode, Mark shares his 6 Golden Rules of Thought Leadership – so grab a pen and paper, there are marginal gains a-plenty!

Mark’s recommended read is the ever-popular Win Without Pitching Manifesto by Blair Enns, listen in and find out how to win a copy.

As I know so many of you are keen cyclists, you may also be interested in Mark’s own book RIDE! RIDE! RIDE! The Story of British Track Cycling.

Also mentioned in this episode:

The Leadership Book by Mark Anderson

You can read more of Grist’s insights here.

So far in our Small Spark Theory podcast series we’ve been exploring the ways we can make marginal gains in our agency new business and marketing performance. We’ve discussed the tweaks and improvements, the tips and tricks that can help us perform better, and see a better return on our time and money.

So far so good.

But even with clear objectives, effective planning, brilliant processes and all the communication skills we have discussed, our best efforts can still be undone by a lack of productivity.

How many times do we find ourselves finalising a pitch deck in a cab on the way to a meeting, scrabbling to submit an RFI seconds before the deadline or simply looking at our new business pipeline and knowing we just haven’t implemented enough of the plan to generate sufficient new opportunities?

Most of us will be familiar with the feeling. The procrastination, indecision and ultimately – paralysis.

So why does it happen? And what can we do about it?

In this episode, we talk to best-selling author Robert Kelsey. Founder and CEO of a successful London PR agency, co-founder and deputy chairman of a leading entrepreneurs’ think tank: The Centre for Entrepreneurs, Robert’s books: “What’s Stopping You?”, “What’s Stopping You Being More Confident?” and “Get Things Done” have sold over 100,000 copies and being translated into 10 languages.

Spoiler alert: The answer to our lack of productivity is rather more complex that we think and requires some honest self-appraisal. The good news is, a tidy workstation and good stationery are still very important. We’re stocking up on nice notepads and post-its right away…

As always, we’ve got a competition for you and will be giving away a copy of Robert's book “Get Things Done”.So listen in to find out how to win.

For more information on improving your agency new businesses effectiveness, get in touch with Lucy Mann. 

Raising your agency profile works hand in hand with new business lead generation, but with so many (free) social media channels at our disposal, it’s easy to overlook the impact of a planned and coordinated PR approach. In this episode I chat with Tim Duncan, founder of TDC PR about his PR successes, tips for getting noticed and published.

And there’s another competition - we’re spoiling you!

You can find out more about TDC PR via the below links:

www.tdcpr.com @TDCPR

http://sodazine.com/ @SODA_ZINE

Tim’s book choice: Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman 

Richard Seymour’s Ted Talk

Our guest this month is Julia Howe. Julia has enjoyed a globetrotting career on both sides of the client and agency fence, and is currently EVP and Co-Head of Global Marketing at 20th Century Fox.

Julia joins us from LA to share her first-hand experience of how agencies really can make a difference when prospecting, pitching and nurturing their client relationships.

Let us not assume that the agencies who are pitching for, or working with behemoth global accounts such as Fox are getting everything right! If ever there was an episode of Small Spark Theory to truly highlight now paying attention to the small stuff and focussing on performance improvement really counts – this is it.

As always we’ll be giving away a copy of Julia’s recommended read: Deep Work by Cal Newport. Just listen in to find out how to win.

She closed the piece with a rallying cry to the industry to “value new business people’s opinions, invite them to speak out and elevate them within your agency management teams”.

Reading this, I realised that so far in the Small Spark Theory series, whilst we’ve been speaking to a range of industry experts about elements of new business process and agency growth challenges, we have yet to give a voice to any new business practitioners.

So I’m delighted that Jemima could spare the time between pitches to come and chat. In this episode we discuss the importance of new business culture, what makes a great new business person, the power of momentum and ice cream.

With an enviable new business record, adam&eveDDB has now clocked up four years as Campaign Agency of the Year. Since recording this episode, I visited my local cinema and between trailers, the agency’s John Lewis / Waitrose "Bohemian Rhapsody" ad finished to spontaneous applause from the audience. By my reckoning they’ll be holding that top spot for a while yet.

As always you can join in the conversation on twitter @gunpowdertweets #smallsparktheory.

Even those agenciy owners who are highly proficient in keeping the new business pipeline bubbling, will probably have had a heart-stopping moment or two over the last 18 months. An unexpected decision by a client, the surprising cancellation of a new project after the green light has already been given, or as one observer recently described to me – client paralysis.

So far in the Small Spark Theory we've been examining all the parts of the sales and marketing process to understand where we can make marginal gains.

But understanding not only how we sell but, what we sell, has never been more important.

In this month’s episode, we chat to Erica Wolfe-Murray, of Lola Media. With a unique mix of experiences from finance and the creative sector, Erica is an established thought leader on the subject of business growth through creative use of IP.

This is our first eye-opening episode from Erica who’ll be joining us later in the year to discuss revenue models.

As always we’ve got a competition and will be giving away a copy of Erica’s recommended read: A Soldier of the Great War by Mark Helprin. Listen in to find out how to win.

But with entire industry sectors in crisis and an uncertain economy ahead it has never been more important for agencies to clearly define and signpost their expertise.  So buckle up, we’re going in again!

In this episode we talk to Robin Bonn from Co:definery to get the lowdown on why positioning is dead but proposition is king and the perils of a pivot. Listen in to find out how to win a copy of Robin’s recommended read: Good Strategy, Bad Strategy by Richard Rumelt

You can read Robin’s latest musings here and follow his Marketing Week column here.

Back in episode 6 we talked about maximising agency websites and touched on positioning copy and about us pages. We dug deeper into agency positioning the following year when we talked to David C. Baker in episode 13. There’s so much more to say about messaging so I was very happy to stumble across the Treacle Copywriters blog (thank you LinkedIn) full of no-nonsense advice for agencies.

In this episode I talk to Treacle founder Roland Gurney about the common messaging pitfalls and the opportunities for agencies to express their difference.

We’re giving away a copy of Roland’s recommended read: Cashvertising by Drew E. Whitman. Listen in to find out how to win.

Hosting an event, which either showcases thought leadership to your existing clients, or allows you to demonstrate your expertise to a wider audience can be prove to be a highly effective weapon in your new business and marketing arsenal.

But where to start? Will people turn up? And what will we say when they do? 

In this episode of Small Spark Theory, we explore how to make the most from agency events and avoid some of the most common mistakes (a clue, it’s all in the planning)! 

As always, we’ve got a competition for you and will be giving away a copy of Adam Grant’s Give & Take. So listen in to find out how to win.

If you feel inspired to host your own event here are some of the tried and tested London venues we like:

Firmdale

The central events team at Firmdale manage event spaces for all of the hotels in the group including Ham Yard, Charlotte Street, Haymarket and Soho Hotel. Plenty of fabulous rooms for private dinners, screenings or larger scale events.

Swan at the Globe

With wonderful views across the river to St Pauls, the Swan can cater for meetings, private dining or larger events.

J&A Café

Lovely Clerkenwell space available for private hire for evening events

Jones Family Project

Great location near Old Street, interesting space options and a dangerous cocktail list.

Forge & Co

Shoreditch co-working space can cater for a range of events.

Riding House Café

The Stables private dining room is a hidden gem for private dining group of up to 14 people.

Vinyl Factory Soho

A bigger space for a larger scale event with a central location

Follow us on Twitter @gunpowdertweets and join the conversation at #smallsparktheory

Over the recent months, I have observed how agencies have been experiencing the impact of economic uncertainty - including the stalling of client decision-making, frozen budgets, disappearing pipelines, and everything in between.

In their recent BenchPress report, The Wow Company described last year as 'brutal' for agencies, and as 2024 adds more political uncertainty, there is no sign of any immediate relief.

So, with this in mind, I wanted to share my thoughts on why 'new business' is such a problem for agencies and suggest some practical steps we can take to alleviate that ever-present feeling of needing to pull a proverbial rabbit out of a hat.

There's no book recommendation this month; instead, I've compiled a short guide to help you reboot your new business pipeline in five simple steps.

Download your free guide here.

Over recent episodes we’ve referenced many of the macro issues facing brands which have in turn slowed down or stalled new business opportunities for agencies. 

But there’s an elephant in the room that we’ve yet to address; the growing trend of clients deciding to bring creative resource in-house. 

In this episode I speak to designer, brand specialist, ex-agency owner and all-round magnificent entrepreneur Emma Sexton. Emma has long championed in-house creative teams having set up the Inside Out Awards over a decade ago. In 2021 this association blossomed into The Inside Out Community, a vibrant member community of in-house creative leaders. 

Emma shares with us the latest statistics on the growth of in-house creative teams, both nationally and internationally and the key drivers behind this shift. We look at the role of AI and budgetary implications. Most importantly, we look at the opportunities for agencies in the face of a trend that isn’t going away any time soon.

You can read more about these insights in the recently released report The Future of In-House of Creative Leadership.

Our book giveaway this month is Emma’s recommendation: Madison Avenue Makeover : The transformation of Huge and the redefinition of the ad agency business. Listen in to find out how to win. 

You can listen to Emma’s previous conversation with us about new agency models here.

In 2017 I interviewed Felix Velarde for this podcast to discuss agency growth planning. It was our 4th episode.

Lots of people got in touch to talk about that episode and the way Felix delivered such a calm, pragmatic approach to a subject that frustrates so many agency owners. How do you grow, and just as importantly, how do you sustain that growth?

Later that year, Felix mentioned over lunch that he’d been approached by an agent who had heard the podcast, and suggested he write a book about the process. Fast forward to 2021 and I’m delighted that Felix is back to discuss that very book: Scale at Speed: How to Triple the Size of Your Business and Build a Superstar Team.

This book is such an invigorating read, whether or not you are in a position to take on the full 2Y3X programme that Felix and his team deliver, it is full to the brim of practical tools and advice to motivate anyone to switch up their growth plans.

We always do a book giveaway with each episode but Felix has kindly agreed to donate 10 signed copies to listeners. Simply listen in to find out how to win.

Citizens are looking to their politicians, employees are looking to their employers. Amid continued uncertainly, everyone needs direction and reassurance.

So what does good leadership look like? Does it change in a crisis? And how can agency leaders look after their teams, and their own wellbeing, as we move from the challenges of lockdown to this next phase of the pandemic?

In this episode we explore these questions and more with Executive Change Mentor Sally Henderson.

Sally has worked with leadership teams at some of the most influential agencies and brands across the world. She joins us to share her top tips for leading with clarity, confidence and authenticity.

As always we’ll be giving away a copy of Sally’s recommended read: Pitch Anything by Oren Klaff, also mentioned in this episode is Feel The Fear And Do It Anyway by Susan Jeffers.

You can find details of Fearless Fuel, Sally’s peer-to-peer leadership round-tables here.

So as we come to the end of another extraordinary year and the final episode of 2021, I wanted to chat with Blair about his reflections on the Manifesto, over a decade from its publication and his outlook for the year ahead.

Do the proclamations set out in the book still apply in these altered economic times? And can we still gain traction with the value pricing approach in Pricing Creativity?

Join us as we explore the challenges and opportunities ahead, and tackle a few listener questions!

This episode marks the 5-year anniversary of Small Spark Theory. So a heartfelt thank you from me to all of the listeners and guests who have been along for the ride so far. We’ll be back in the New Year with more guests and more marginal gains. In the meantime wishing you all a wonderful festive break.  

Also mentioned in this episode

Icelandverse

Four Regrets You’re About to Have

Win Without Pitching

Of all of the marketing tools available to agencies, I’d wager that one of the most effective, yet most overlooked, is the humble email newsletter. 

Which of course, makes it the perfect candidate for marginal gains and the perfect topic for this podcast. And this month, I have the perfect guest in the shape of agency newsletter specialist, Jamie Woodbridge  from The Inbox Club.

In this episode we discuss why newsletters are so important - particularly in the face of so many shiny new channels, how to set good objectives, what to measure, which platforms to use, the optimum frequency and what makes winning newsletter content. 

As always we’ll be giving away a copy of Jamie’s recommended read: A Whack on the Side of the Head by Roger von Oech

I’m delighted that Jamie and his team are going to be relaunching  my very own newsletter (which has fallen ominously silent over the last year). The first issue of One Small Spark lands at the end of this month, so look out for it if you are already subscribed, or sign up here to join in the fun: http://eepurl.com/dql7rf

You can also sign up for The Inbox Club’s own weekly newsletter, full of actionable advice, here: https://theinboxclub-tips.beehiiv.com/subscribe

Regular listeners to this podcast will know that we spend a lot of time here talking about relationships. Of course there is much to say in our industry about creativity and marketing and technology innovation, but fundamentally, as agencies we are service businesses and so the process of attracting, winning and retaining clients has as much to do with the the people involved and the relationships we create as it does with the creative or technological outputs. 

This year I’ve spent a lot of time auditing client relationships on behalf of agencies, so have been paying particular attention to the behaviours and dynamics that define successful working relationships - from early new business conversations all the way through to retained (and referred) business. 

So I was particularly excited to receive a copy of Tuning Up, the new book by David Meikle, exploring how responsibility and control relate to one another in ALL of our relationships but specifically within the client and agency dynamic. 

In this episode David joins me to discuss how using his clever Meikle Matrix to help us better understand responsibility and control,  we can improve our performance and reduce stress. 

Don't forget, we’ll be giving a lucky listener a copy of Tuning Up, listen in to find out how to win. 

This episode is sponsored by E2M, the #1 white label digital agency partner. Visit https://www.e2msolutions.com/smallsparktheory/ to enjoy 20% discount on your first month.

Also mentioned in the episode:

David's previous book: How To Buy A Gorilla

EP30: Rethinking Procurement

Also mentioned in this episode:

One Small Spark - Gunpowder's monthly challenge email.

The recent acquisition of new business agency Future Factory by their leading competitor Ingenuity has been headline news in the new biz community. For me it was the perfect opportunity for a long overdue catch up with co-founder Alex Sibille.

In this episode we discuss the expanded new business and marketing services offered by this combined new business powerhouse, Alex reflects on how new business performance has fared through changing economic conditions and shares insights and best practice for agencies either looking to hire a new business agency or undertake their own outreach activity.

Just to mix things up, this month we don’t have a book recommendation, but instead, content to follow on LinkedIn, specifically Tina Fegent and her weekly #TinaTells posts.

Also mentioned in the episode are Future Factory training courses and our previous conversations on the pod in EP24: The new business email and EP5: Lead generation.

This episode is sponsored by E2M, the #1 white label digital agency partner. Visit https://www.e2msolutions.com/smallsparktheory/ to enjoy 20% discount on your first month.  

It’s given me the opportunity to talk to agencies outside of the London bubble and better understand some of the differences and similarities around the perennial challenges and opportunities for growth.

So it was a pleasure to get to chat with Phil Gripton for this episode. Phil is a partner at growth advisory firm Waypoint, supporting agencies in the North of England and Scotland. His experience spans three decades of growing, running and selling agencies, as well as buying agency services in a number of client-side roles.

Phil shares his top tips for maximising agency performance – from boosting profitability to shaping up for acquisition. 

We’re giving away a copy of Phil’s recommended read, Invisible Power by Ken Manning, Robin Charbit, and Sandra Krot – listen in to find out how to win.

We’ve all heard the statistics about how much of our verbal vs visual communication is heard and seen, but at a time when we are mostly communicating through a Zoom window and many of the other subtle body language cues are missing, the pressure is on to make sure our presentation materials are working harder than ever.

And as a marginal gains exercise, this one is a whopper! Presentation decks are so often overlooked, either hastily rehashed or totally over engineered. Time spent rethinking how we approach this vital part of our new business armoury is undoubtedly time well spent.

So who better to unpick this than presentation expert Shan Preddy. Design Business Association members will know Shan well as a founder member of the Experts Register and trainer and advisor to swathes of organisations across the sector.

Listen in to hear Shan’s best tips and tricks for powerful presentations (and a bonus insight into the communication skills of the new US Vice President-Elect….!)

Shan’s recommended read is Slide:ologyby Nancy Duarte. 

Links:

Preddy & Co

Shan Preddy

“I’m speaking...”

This is also your last chance to contribute to our new year episode about new business habits - let us know your thoughts here.

Any regular listeners to this podcast will know that I love agencies. I have a deep fascination for the dynamics of what are often small businesses, almost always servicing larger organisations and adapting to the continually shifting sands of markets, consumer behaviour, the economy, competitors – and of course, technology.

In this episode I discuss the challenges of maintaining relevance with the brilliant Mark Wilson, one half of the agency previously known as Wilson Fletcher, newly rebranded as Futurestate Design.

How do you decide when to transform? When to stick and when to twist? How to you find the language to articulate your offer when technology moves so fast that ‘digital’ is no longer helpful.

As always we are giving away a copy of Mark’s recommended read: No Rules Rules by Reed Hastings and Erin Meyer. Listen in to find out how to win.

Also mentioned in this episode is Mark’s own book Futurestate Design: How to step out of the past to create a business fit for the future.

Powerful by Patty McCord

This episode is sponsored by E2M, the #1 white label digital agency partner. Visit https://www.e2msolutions.com/smallsparktheory/ to enjoy 20% discount on your first month.  

Additional music: "Show Me" by Josh Woodward

The theme for this series has always been to explore how we can use a marginal gains thinking to improve agency new business and marketing performance.

That said, I’m conscious that in some episodes, when we do a deep dive into a particular element of new business and marketing mix, our reference to marginal gains may seem a little abstract.

So with September upon us and in keeping with that ‘back to school’ vibe, I wanted to dedicate an episode to practical examples of how this marginal gains thinking can deliver tangible results.

Joining me for this conversation is Joe Perkins, founder and MD of Chaptr. Joe started working through Gunpowder’s New Business & Marketing Bootcamp with me back in 2020 and shares his experience of the warts and all process and his top tips for applying this approach to performance improvement.

As always we have a book giveaway - Joe’s recommended read is Powerful: Building a Culture of Freedom and Responsibility by Patty McCord. Join in the conversation on Twitter, Instagram or LinkedIn using #smallsparktheory for your chance to win a copy.

Also mentioned in this episode:

Agency Collective

Agency Hackers

Agency Local

The Trussell Trust New Business Trouble Shoot

However, when we consider many of the activities involved in attracting and winning new clients – the outreach to new prospects, networking, hosting events, speaking engagements, let alone pitching and negotiating – so many, for many of us, induce fear.

And left unchecked, these fears can either disrupt our performance or worse, stop us doing the things we need to do to keep our businesses thriving.

We first met Hilary Gallo back in episode eleven when we discussed negotiation. Since then Hilary has been studying the subject of fear, and more importantly, how we can hack fear to our advantage.

Listen in to find out how to win a signed copy of Hilary’s latest book Fear Hack.

Small Spark Theory has always been about a mindset. When I started this podcast back in 2017 I wanted to harness the marginal gains thinking that was and still is, so prevalent in elite sport and apply it to an altogether different kind of winning - agency new business.

So when I heard Serotonin Co-Founder Clair Heaviside talking about her ultra-running at an agency conference earlier this year I knew she would be the perfect guest. How right I was! 

Join us as we discuss how training and competing in endurance sports has informed Clair’s approach to running an agency.

This is one of the most inspiring episodes we’ve recorded. There is so much we can learn from Clair’s experience about consistency, mental fortitude, decision-making and discipline and culture. 

Clair’s book recommendation is There is No Wall by Allie Bailey. Listen in to find out how to win a copy. 

Also mentioned in this episode:

Jasmin Paris 

EP84 with Rachel Cook

International Women’s Podcast Awards

Let’s be clear, the ambition and optimism are still there, but big fat goals can feel meaningless when we are surrounded by so much restriction, distraction and uncertainty. So what can we do?

In true Small Spark Theory, marginal gains style, for this episode we wanted to focus on some small stuff. Some helpful, positive habits. The things that can help us put one foot in front of the other, to keep going and stay motivated, even when we don’t feel like it

To help me unpick the subject of habits I co-opted my long-term colleague and Small Spark Theory Institute co-founder Clare Rees. Clare learned a thing or two about forming good habits when taking on the mighty challenge of writing a novel, so has a great perspective on how to take small steps, avoid procrastination and keep our motivation strong.

As always, listen in for the chance to win a copy of Clare’s recommended read: Atomic Habits by James Clear - you can also download the first chapter here. 

We also have some questions and tips from our fabulous listeners. If you have a question or hot tip and would like to contribute to an upcoming episode – please get in touch.

Also mentioned in this episode:

Stephen Covey's seminal 7 Habits of Highly Effective People 

Liz Wilde

Early on in my agency career I often used to hear the expression 'great creative work will sell itself', and its close cousin 'do great work and the clients will come'. Of course we know that in reality, certainly for the majority, these things are rarely true, but I'm still surprised by the number of agencies I meet who continue to operate as though under this misapprehension, highly focused on the creative or technical output but lacking in broader commercial acumen or practice. 

In this episode I talk to designer, agency leader and consultant Tim Perry about the most common commercial skills gaps he’s observed and how he’s tackling them through a range of bite-sized training courses designed especially for creatives.

This feels like the perfect discussion to be having now. If ever there was a time to sharpen our networking, relationship-building and negotiation skills it is now!

As always we’re giving away a copy of Tim’s recommended read: The Laws of Simplicity by John Maeda - listen in to find out how to win. 

It’s been a little while since we had a client perspective on this podcast, and given the current economic wobbles, now feels like an excellent time to remedy this.

So I’m delighted to share this conversation with Gareth Turner. Having enjoyed a stellar marketing career with brands such as Johns Smith’s, Bulmers and Lurpak, Gareth was most recently Head of Marketing at Weetabix and earlier this year, published his own research on client / agency relationships.

We pick though the six key themes of this research to provide practical, actionable tips to help reinforce your relationships. You can download a copy of the report here – and while you’re at it, I highly recommend subscribing to Gareth’s newsletter: Sporadic Brand Ramblings.

As always we’ll be giving away a copy of Gareth’s recommended read: How not to plan: 66 ways to screw it up by Les Binet and Sarah Carter. Listen in to find out how to win.

For more information about Gunpowder’s client audit programmes – get in touch.

After a tough couple of years, I’ve been spotting some really positive signs in agencies over the past six months; clients seem to be spending, delayed projects are being given the green light and new business pipelines are flourishing.

But there is no escaping the wider economic picture and we should rightly be bracing ourselves for impact on future marketing spend. And whilst there is much we can’t predict, or control, strengthening our relationships and communication with our clients is only going to stand us in good stead for the future.

In this episode I chat to the brilliant Trenton Moss from Team Sterka. We discuss the rollercoaster of agency ownership, what happens when inbound new business referrals dry up, the power of growing prospect communities and how to become a relationship master.

We are giving away a copy of Trenton’s book: Human Powered. Simply listen in to find out how to win.

Take the quiz to find out your communication style here!

For details of Gunpowder's client development workshops, get in touch.

Through all of the conversations I had with agencies during this time I was aware that it was surely those in the events sector who had been dealt the most difficult hand.

In this episode, I speak to Sarah Yeats, Managing Director of events agency Sledge, to understand what happens when your projects are cancelled and your pipeline disappears.

I’ve called this episode ‘overcoming adversity’ but it’s so much more than that. It’s about leadership, resilience, communication, but most importantly, the power of relationships.

Listen in to find out how to win a copy of Sarah’s recommended read: Be More Pirate by Sam Conniff Allende.

But what about podcasting in a B2B context, and more specifically how does it fit into an agency new business and marketing plan? Is it just a shiny new thing or can it really deliver new business?

I noticed a number of new agency podcasts popping up this year so thought it might be time to explore if and how this channel can add value.

And who better to join me? Small Spark Theory’s very own producer and editor, Isabelle Jarvis. Izzy has been the driving force behind this podcast since its inception and has gone on to produce, edit and advise on a variety of other shows.

In this episode, we discuss the need for strategy (spoiler alert – it’s your ideas and content that are important, the podcast is simply a different channel to allow those ideas to live in another format), thoughts on formatting and make sense of the technical implications.

The recording, hosting and editing tech mentioned in this episode is as follows:

Zencastr

Squadcast

AnchorFM

Libsyn

Buzzsprout

Podbean

Audacity

If you have a great content idea which supports your proposition and marketing strategy, fancy your hand at podcasting but don’t know where to start, you can contact Isabelle@gunpowderconsulting.com 

Whether your agency has a fast track growth plan or a more modest desire to maintain the status quo, there are innumerable challenges that can derail even the best laid plans.

Client insecurity or overexposure, floundering new business pipelines or skills shortages not to mention the wider economic backdrop, can all create pinch-points for agency leaders. At each of these moments critical decisions must be made. Those agencies of real scale, with a sizeable exec board have some safety in discussion and consensus, but for the small to mid-size agency owner these can be lonely times. How do you find the right sounding board?

Many listeners of this show will know Daniel de la Cruz. Having experienced exactly these challenges running his own agency, and grown The Agency Collective alongside The Wow Company, Daniel has created Polymensa to provide the ‘non-ego’ board for independent agencies.

In this episode we get together to discuss the challenges of scaling, avoiding the echo chamber and why differing perspectives matter.

Daniel’s recommended reads are: What You Do Is Who You Are: How to Create Your Business Culture by Ben Horowitz and Wanting: The Power of Mimetic Desire, and How to Want What You Need by Luke Burgis. Also mentioned in this episode is The First Minute by Chris Fenning. We’ll be giving away a copy of What You Do Is Who You Are, simply listen in to find out how to win.

Read Daniel’s thoughts on the shortcomings of the traditional non-exec director.

Much of the time I deal with small to medium sized agencies, all specialists in their respective fields, many of whom are working with large brand owners with significant purchasing power. Such accounts can be transformative for an agency looking to grow - the opportunity to do the kind of work that is high profile enough that in turn, it will attract more, equally prestigious new work. But these relationships are not without risk.

In this episode I chat to David Meikle, consultant and author of How to Buy a Gorilla, about the relationship between marketing, procurement and agency, and how to create value.

Listen in to find out how to win a copy of David’s book.

Also mentioned in this episode are:

Win Without Pitching and Pricing Creativity by Blair Enns

Implementing Value Pricing by Ronald J Baker

Take a Stand for your Brand by Tim Williams

Buying Less for Less by Gerry Preece and Russell Wohlwerth

I have a constant fascination with the power of agency marketing. I’m sure it’s my age - having cut my new business teeth in a pre-digital era, but my enthusiasm for the growing array of channels available for anyone to share their message with an audience shows no sign of abating.  

So forgive me for revisiting the subject of profile building once again. Last year I dedicated three episodes to content resourcing, personal branding and LinkedIn profile building and back in episode 25 I chatted to Brandhook’s Pip Stocks who shared her story of successfully building out a thought leadership campaign. 

For this episode, I wanted to showcase another small agency, but with a slightly different challenge - how do you balance the profile of the founder with the profile of the agency?

Dr Kat Arney is a multi award-winning science writer and broadcaster, and founder and Creative Director of First Create The Media. Having started the agency in 2018 after over a decade at Cancer Research UK, Kat continues to publish books, produce numerous podcasts and, given the opportunity, take to the stage to speak about science and society. Join us as we talk about the trials of the accidental agency owner, juggling personal profile projects with billable time and much more. 

Kat’s recommended read is Story Dash: Find, Develop, and Activate Your Most Valuable Business Stories . . . In Just a Few Hours - listen in to find out how to win a copy. 

Also mentioned in this episode:

Rebel Cell - buy signed copies https://www.rebelcellbook.com/ or find it wherever books are sold

Genetics Unzipped podcast https://geneticsunzipped.com/

Ingenious https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000h0fy/episodes/player

And as agency awards can take up such a considerable amount of time, energy and budget -it seems only right that we apply our marginal gains scrutiny to understand how to maximise our return on investment.

In this episode, I get together with agency awards expert Stef Brown. Stef has clocked up an enviable win rate over the years, supporting all kinds of agencies to land their most prized gongs.  

Join us as Stef takes us through her top tips - from prioritising awards schemes, creating winning entries and publicising our wins.

We’re giving away a copy of Stef’s recommended read: A Smile in the Mind, listen in to find out how to win.  

If you are looking to take control of your agency new business and marketing planning in 2020, check out the Small Spark Theory Institute at www.smallsparktheory.com 

Whichever way we cut it, 2022 has been A LOT.

The last few years have seen so much change; for individuals, businesses and our industry. Many of us are still adapting. Whether we are recalibrating, reinventing, surviving or thriving, we’re doing it all against a backdrop of relentless economic and political turmoil and uncertainty.

So for our final episode of the year I wanted to focus on how we can maintain our confidence and positivity as we close off the year and look ahead to 2023.

Wendy Bollard is a mindset coach with many years’ experience in the creative industry. Working with artists, designers, performers and directors, she uses her brilliant box of tricks to help her clients manage the day to day noise and bring out their very best performance.

Listen in as Wendy shares her valuable tools and advice and helps us understand how to give our minds a daily workout. As always we are giving away a copy of Wendy’s recommended read: The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron.

Thank you all listening this year and continuing to support Small Spark Theory, every time we get your feedback and reviews it really is like a big internetty hug. Wishing you all a warm and restorative break.

Also mentioned in the episode: Atomic Habits by James Clear

One of the resources I will often reference in response to this question is the Benchpress Report  published by The Wow Company.  I invited Peter Czapp, co-founder of The Wow Company and The Agency Collective, to join me for this episode of Small Spark Theory to discuss his findings from the current report, and to dig a little deeper into the trends and correlations behind the wealth data collected over 7 years of agency benchmarking. 

We’ll be sending one lucky listener a copy of Peter’s recommended read, the ever popular With Without Pitching Manifesto by Blair Enns, simply listen in to find out how to win.

You can find out more about the Benchpress statistics on cash flow, new business, and how agency owners spend their time here and statistics on pricing, profit, and the impact of artificial intelligence on agencies here. You can also access Peter’s webinar sharing the latest benchmarking trends for agencies.

Almost daily, we are bombarded in the news by a roll call of redundancies, rumours of regional lockdown, interspersed with “is it a V, U, W or ‘swoosh’?” predictions for our economic recovery.

The end of furlough, Brexit (oh yes), and the prospect of a Covid resurgence over the winter all paint a picture where the only real certainty is uncertainty. And yet, if we are to survive and thrive, plan we must.

So where to start?

This is the question I put to my guest, founder of Lab Eight, Deepa Shah.

Deepa is a vastly experienced, multi-award winning agency CFO and a fresh new voice on the agency growth advisory circuit having launched Lab Eight in April this year, exactly as the pandemic struck.

Deepa shares her advice for where we should be focusing now, and how to plan ahead.

It’s worth noting good proportion of the guests on this podcast are people I have known and worked with for many years throughout my career. They are the experts I have turned to for advice again and again, who can be relied upon for their deep knowledge of a specialist subject. 

Then there are those who have been recommended to me and others (mostly authors) who I have simply stalked until I could persuade them to join me.

Deepa is someone who first appeared on my LinkedIn radar at the beginning of the year and quickly became a regular fixture in my feed, adding a constructive and positive commentary to the most interesting of threads. Aside from her insights on her specialist subject – Deepa’s use of her network and LinkedIn as a platform has been a masterclass in how to launch a consultancy. But perhaps that’s an episode for another day.

In the meantime listen in and find out how to win a copy of Deepa’s recommended read The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah.

I’ve reflected on this theme often over the intervening months. In my conversations with agency owners, account teams and new business practitioners I sensed a polarising effect of the pandemic. It has been no surprise that the stronger the partnerships with clients, the better able both parties have been to communicate and problem solve. At the very least, for agencies that communication has been vital to provide the financial visibility required for scenario planning.

Whatever lies ahead, I hope this experience galvanises more clients into investing in the process of hiring agencies, but that’s a big, thorny topic for another day. What I’m interested in right now is how agencies can fulfil our part of the bargain. How can we actively shift our existing client relationships from transactional and reactive to trusted and proactive?

In previous episodes we have discussed the process of client development planning, but this time, we’re taking it to the next level and exploring client satisfaction audits.

My guest is agency powerhouse Alisha Lyndon, founder and CEO of B2B growth consultancy Momentum. Alisha and I worked together last year to re-invigorate Momentum’s client satisfaction programme and in this episode, we discuss the process, the outcomes and share some top tips for building trust and advocacy.

As always we’ll be giving away a copy of Alisha’s recommended read Insight, by Tasha Eurich.  Listen in to find out how to win.

For details of Gunpowder’s client satisfaction audit consulting, get in touch at lucy@gunpowderconsulting.com

The people part of our business can so often get overlooked in our efforts to generate new business. Yes, we might think about chemistry once we are faced with a pitch opportunity but beyond that, our thinking tends to get muddled when we consider the power of our people to drive referrals and introductions. There might be an expectation that this will happen, or an unspoken, mild resentment when it doesn’t, but the reality is that only a fully engaged, motivated and inspired workforce will act as true ambassadors for your agency.

Your culture is more than the Friday beer trolley, jolly Facebook page or annual karaoke / bowling / pizza night. It’s the glue that binds your people together with guiding principles, a way of working and a desire to succeed for the greater good of the business.

It’s the bit that truly makes your agency bigger than the sum of the parts.

And for those agencies that really get it right, it’s the bit that will turbo charge new business.

In this episode of Small Spark Theory I chat to Katz Kiely. Serial entrepreneur, technologist and organisational change ninja, Katz shares her experience of culture and the way people work together, from agencies to start-ups and the UN.

This is one episode you will not want to miss!

Follow us on Twitter @gunpowdertweets and join the conversation at #smallsparktheory

For more information on improving your agency new businesses effectiveness, get in touch with Lucy Mann.

EP85:  Changing perception | Steve Garside | TMW           

Have you ever felt that your agency is pigeonholed by clients and prospects as being a specialist in just one thing, where in reality you have so much more to offer?

Of course being seen as a specialist of any kind is a generally a good thing – we have many episodes where we have discussed this at length. But in some cases, over time, the perception of a narrow service specialism can become an inhibitor to growth.

In this episode I’m joined by Steve Garside, Divisional Head of New Business & Marketing at TMW Unlimited as we discuss the challenge of changing the market perception of an agency know for decades as a CRM specialist.

Steve takes us through his approach to broadening the agency’s appeal to a wider audience and shares his top tips for anyone looking to get out of troublesome pigeonhole.

No book competition this time but you can download Steve’s recommended read: New Business: A guide to life on the frontline published by the IPA.

From the conversations I’ve had with my clients, I know that whilst consistent LinkedIn engagement can deliver fantastic results – for many, finding the time and focus required to create momentum can be a challenge.

Which is why I was intrigued by the service that Laura Hannan and her team at Pitch121 provide.

Laura joins me for the second episode in our mini-series exploring different techniques and resources to help raise your agency profile.

Listen in to hear a how the clever combination of tech, content and highly targeted Sales Navigator outreach is connecting agencies with their audiences, and a wealth of tips for elevating your own LinkedIn presence.

As always we’ll be giving away of Laura’s recommended read; Social Selling: Techniques to Influence Buyers and Changemakers by Tim Hughes.

In this, the first of two episodes recorded on the night, we hear from Felix Velarde - back by popular demand following our growth planning discussion in episode 4 last year - together with Joanna Brassett, founder of Studio INTO. Since 2011, Joanna has been building a global design research and innovation business and over the past 5 years has been implementing Gunpowder’s Small Spark Theory philosophy. Felix and Joanna joined me to explore the challenges facing agency leaders at various stages of growth, from prioritising new business and marketing activity, getting to grips with cold outreach, when to delegate and when to hire.

Special thanks to our co-hosts YCN, the super team at White City Place, photographer David Townhill and to Ugly Drinks, Propercorn and ABInBev for providing our drinks and snacks on the night.

Across the series, we have asked all of our contributors to share the best piece of advice they’ve been given in their career, so we thought we’d take a wander through the last two years of episodes and pick some of our favourites.

So grab a cuppa and a mince pie, and tune in to hear from Felix Velarde, Hilary Gallo, Katz Kiely, Sara Stark, David C Baker, Alex Blyth, Robert Kelsey, Tony Spong, Jemima Monies, Dan Sudron, Katie Pattison and Blair Enns.

If you fancy a little more inspiration, check out David’s book The Business of Expertise, Hilary’s new book Fear Hackand Blair’s practical guide to Pricing Creativity.

As always, we have a competition prize. We’ll be giving away a 15 minute timer from The School of Life, simply listen in to find out how to win.

Merry Christmas, we’ll be back in January with more guests and more news!

In this, the second of two episodes recorded on the night, we gain a client perspective by speaking to Head of Marketing and Creative for Dishoom - Sara Stark. Sara discusses her experience of working with agencies and offers advice for approaching potential clients, along with invaluable tips for a building successful client / agency relationships. (Hint: send Sara flowers!)

As always we have a competition for you. Listen in to find out how to win a copy of Sara’s recommended read: Winning in Your Own Way: The Nine and a Half Golden Rules of Branding by Robert Bean.

Thanks again to our lovely co-hosts YCN, everyone at White City Place and to photographer David Townhill.

The good news is that the opportunities for making marginal gains in the way we approach, plan and conduct our pitch activity are not only plentiful but often relatively simple. 

In this episode of Small Spark Theory I chat to Tony Spong, Managing Partner at the original client-agency intermediary, AAR. Tony’s career has spanned both client and agency roles before settling squarely in the middle, where he has led hundreds of agency pitches. Who better to provide a unique insight on what works, what doesn’t and why?

As always, we’ve got a competition for you and will be giving away a copy of Tony’s recommended read ‘The Shallows: How the internet is changing the way we think, read and remember’ by Nicholas Carr.  So listen in to find out how to win.

Follow us on Twitter @gunpowdertweets and join the conversation at #smallsparktheory 

For more information on improving your agency new businesses effectiveness, please get in touch.

The thing with marginal gains is that it feels small. And we could be forgiven for thinking that applying this approach to agency growth is simply about tinkering around the edges, making small improvements and seeing small incremental results.

I know it has a far bigger sales and marketing role to play, but wanted to talk to someone who has experienced rapid agency growth to understand the interplay between big strategy and marginal gains. 

And who better than Stephen Kenwright, exited co-founder of one of the last decade's the most exciting agency start-ups, Rise at Seven. 

Join us as Stephen takes us through this incredible growth story and shares his top tips for leaders who are eager to scale their agencies fast.

As always, we'll be giving away a copy of Stephen's recommended read: Why Does the Pedlar Sing by Paul Feldwick. Listen in to find out how to win.

Also mentioned in this episode:

Good advice from J Schwan

The Challenger Customer by Brent Adamson, Matthew Dixon, Pat Spenner and Nick Toman.

EP51: Raising Your Profile with Ash Jones

Ride Shotgun

Rise at Seven

I feel as though we’ve been skirting around the edges of a beast of a topic for some time on this podcast, namely emergent technology and its impact on agencies.

Of course, no single episode is going to unpick the labyrinth of challenges and opportunities for our clients, and in turn the agency community, but as the chat about AI continues to rumble in the daily news cycle, it’s feels like the right time to talk to someone who really understands that intersection of technology, people and brands.

Warren Hutchinson is Founder of Else, an experience design, innovation and strategy consultancy and Chair of the Design Business Association. He’s spent 25 years helping businesses as they navigate a point of change.

In this episode, we discuss cutting though the hype and the noise, the power of kinaesthetic learning and its role in our positioning as experts and the importance of not having all the answers.

Warren’s recommended read is Scary Smart by Mo Gowdat. Listen in to find out how to win a copy.

Also mentioned in the episode:

Diary of a CEO E252 Emergency Episode with Mo Gowdat

Newsletters:

TLDR

The Conversation

The Hustle

If you are a DBA Member you can join Warren discussing these topics in Glasgow on 15 June – find out more here

This episode is sponsored by E2M, the #1 white label digital agency partner. Visit https://www.e2msolutions.com/smallsparktheory/ to enjoy 20% discount on your first month.  

Whether you are looking for a high value exit, attempting to break through the turnover ceilings of one, two five or ten million or simply want to avoid the boom and bust revenue rollercoaster, this podcast episode is for you.

Agency growth expert Felix Velarde has founded, grown and sold agencies many times over and now works with as a consultant and mentor focusing on strategy-driven growth and agency scaling. In this episode we discuss the need for differentiation, building superstar teams, and power of planning and process.

This month’s book recommendation is The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive by Patrick M. Lencioni – as always we’ll be giving away a copy – tune in to find out how to win.

You can read more about Felix here.

Follow us on Twitter @gunpowdertweets and join the conversation at #smallsparktheory

As we discussed in episode 92 with Stephen Kenwright, a solid sales and marketing strategy is crucial for agency growth. However, realising that growth brings its own set of challenges. Having experienced rapid growth through acquisition while leading agency sales and marketing, I’m well aware of the pitfalls of maintaining brand consistency while keeping momentum with an ever-evolving strategy.

For this episode, I was keen speak with a founder who has faced those challenges firsthand. Alisha Lyndon, founder of the growth consultancy Momentum ITSMA, secured investment in 2019 to fund a series of high-profile acquisitions. The company now offers an expanded suite of services to some of the world’s largest B2B brands.

We discuss how the sales and marketing strategy has evolved to reflect additional service lines and expanded geographic reach, while also bringing clients and colleagues along on the journey.

As always, we’re giving away a copy of Alisha’s recommended book: Unreasonable Hospitality: The Remarkable Power of Giving People More Than They Expect by Will Guidara. Tune in to find out how to win!

Also mentioned in this episode: 

EP92: How to scale fast

EP62: Mastering thought leadership

EP45: Client satisfaction

Sign up for One Small Spark

This is good news. It shows that we are looking forward and taking positive action to create better, more sustainable agency marketing practices. In particular, the biggest shift I have seen is agencies recognising the need to prioritise profile building activity, and in turn realising that there is a gap in their existing team skillset to provide this.

Over the coming months I’m going to be focussing on the different ways we can look at building agency profiles and the varying shapes of resource available to help us do that.

To kick us off for this episode, I invited Sarah Paterson, co-founder of CommsPeople to join me in sharing the story of her lockdown start-up; providing flexible support from a  talent pool of high calibre communications professionals.

This is an ideal solution for agencies with great ideas for connecting with prospects with relevant content, but find themselves too caught up in the day to business to make it happen.

If you need help defining your audience and content strategy then feel free to get in touch with me here or if you want to discuss a brief for support from the CommsPeople talent pool, you can reach Sarah here.

As always we are giving away a copy of Sarah’s recommended read: The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz – listen in and find out how to win.

And of course, if you have a new business or agency marketing question for us, or a top tip to share, please get in touch.

Useful links:

2021 Freelance trends

How to manage freelancers 

Lunchclub

So I was delighted to meet David C Baker at a Design Business Association event late last year. David is an author, speaker and leading thinker on agency positioning. Over the last 25 years he has advised hundreds of creative businesses across the world to help them make sense of what comes next.

I managed to persuade David to join me on Small Spark Theory to chat about his latest book, why positioning matters, and how to get started.

We’ve got a signed copy The Business of Expertise: How Entrepreneurial Experts Convert Insight into Impact & Wealth, to give away to a lucky listener, simply join in the conversation at @gunpowdertweets  #smallsparktheory.

You can hear more from David at 2Bobs, his fortnightly podcast with Blair Enns and read more at www.ReCourses.com

Also recommended in this episode are:

The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday

Bird by Bird by Ann Lamott

A Beautiful Mind 

To find out more about New Business Roundtables at YCN contact Nick Defty.

In response to this, we have created the Small Spark Theory Institute, providing mentored, online new business and marketing courses.

Our first course - a New Business & Marketing Bootcamp, is designed specifically for founders of 2-10 person agencies, who want to build workable strategies and plans whilst optimising their results. Over 60 individual lessons and 4 x one-to-one video calls with me, Lucy Mann, we guide participants through setting objectives and a strategy, creating a workable plan, then optimising performance.

Check out the course dates at www.smallsparktheory.comand take advantage of special 15% discount for enrolments before 31st December by using the code PODCAST at the checkout.

It's been 6 years since Tony Walford from Green Square joined me on Small Spark Theory to discuss the practicalities of selling an agency. 

To say a lot has happened since then would be an understatement. Aside from the obvious economic rollercoaster and acceleration in technology, we've seen a seismic change to the way many of us work. 

I was curious to find out how these changes have affected the agency M&A market, so invited my fellow Design Business Association expert David Blois from M&A Advisory to share his observations and insights. 

Join us in conversation to hear:

• which agency services are in demand
• how to measure your preparedness for sale
• what to consider when assessing a buyer

As always we have a book giveaway - David's recommendation is The Trusted Advisor by David Maister, Charles Green and Robert Galford. Simply join in the conversation on X, Instagram and LinkedIn using #smallsparktheory for a chance to win. 

Over the years I have met many, many agency owners, who have a nagging suspicion that they could be doing more for their current clients, but feel unable to move the relationship from supplier, to trusted partner, and thereby unlocking not only greater revenue potential, but that magical fairy dust we know as referrals.

This is a big subject that I’m going to come back to over future podcast episodes, but to kick us off I wanted to track down the person who has been the most influential in helping me understand not only the skills required for client development, but how embedding process is the ultimate game-changer.

Iain Johnston has more than 25 years of experience in marketing services and business development, and has founded, developed and sold or floated several technology firms.

Iain spent 11 years running GB Group, was deputy chairman at Alterian, CEO of the Loewy Group and has spent 18 years as chairman of Event Marketing Solutions. Now COO of international law firm Hill Dickinson, I travelled to Liverpool to chat to Iain and find out more about his approach, and how everyone can harness marginal gains in client development.

Let’s go back to the beginning. At the start of my agency career, I worked mostly with ad agencies. This was in the 90s and honestly – it was dazzling. The high profile exit of Maurice and Charles from Saatchi & Saatchi to set up M&C Saatchi, Dave Trott setting up Bainsfair Sharkey Trott then WCST, Trevor Beattie making waves with Wonderbra and FCUK, and so it went on. Everywhere you turned there were names.

I’ve often said that to a degree, the rise of digital and social media has evened out the playing field from an agency profile point of view, allowing everyone a share of voice if they get a good plan in place. However, there has seemed a notable lack of high profile individuals in quite the same way as we had before. With so much noise – was it just too hard for anyone to cut through?

For me, that changed when Social Chain founder Steven Bartlett catapulted on to the scene, transcending industry trade press, appearing in mainstream media and attracting over 2 million followers online. All by the age of 27. (Not to mention taking the company public).

To help me understand how that happened, and what we can learn from it, I’m joined by Ash Jones, part of the founding team at Social Chain and founder of Great Influence.

We talk about what it takes to create a personal brand, how to cut through the noise and how to manage imposter syndrome.

As always we’ll be giving away a copy of Ash’s recommended read - the newly published Happy Sexy Millionaire by Steven Bartlett.

And as we head into what is arguably the most important three months of the year for agency new business, we are delighted to welcome Erica back to Small Spark Theory, for a dedicated episode on agency revenue models. Based on her experience across multiple industries, Erica takes us through how we can think more creatively about what we sell and and how we sell it, and how to create multiple, and more importantly, scalable revenue streams.

All this and more is available in Erica’s brand new book, Simple Tips, Smart Ideas: Easy to Use Advice for Business Growth, which will be available from January 2019, and get this… you can win a copy too! Listen to this episode to find out how.

We’ve been getting a lot of love for Small Spark Theory over recent months, which is heartening indeed. If you’ve been listening in and enjoying what you hear, please do leave a review on iTunes, it’s really quick to do and would make our day.

In this episode of Small Spark Theory, I’m joined by ex-corporate lawyer, author and negotiation expert Hilary Gallo. Hilary and I met earlier this year at a Business for Bohemians workshop run by the brilliant team at the Idler.  I realised that his approach, honed over 25 years of solving complex, multi-million pound corporate deals and explored in his book; The Power of Soft, was ideal for the many agency teams I have worked with who continually struggle when faced with the negotiating might of larger client organisations.

Luckily, I managed to negotiate my way into Hilary’s busy schedule to find out his top tips. So grab a cuppa and tune in - it’s easier than you think!

As always, we’ve got a competition for you and will be giving a lucky listener a copy of The Power of Soft. Listen in to find out how to win.

Follow us on Twitter @gunpowdertweets and join the conversation at #smallsparktheory

For more information on improving your agency new businesses effectiveness, please get in touch.

Something interesting happens when you ask an agency leader about their website. Usually a slight shift in their seat, followed by a sigh, a pained expression and a mumble about the site being due for an overhaul. A similar thing happens when you talk to marketing or new business practitioners in an agency, there’s a sense of exasperation or worse, resignation.

At a Design Business Association new business event in November, I asked the assembled audience of 60 agency folk, how many felt their website truly represented their agency offer. Just five hands were raised.

We’ve heard it all before. This isn’t a new dilemma, and we all know the reasons why so many agencies have a suboptimal website. It’s a perfect storm of lack of time, lack of resource, a focus on delivering client work, creative differences and the search for the perfect portfolio execution. But if we’re not careful, months, then years pass by and what should be a highly effective weapon in your new business and marketing arsenal is undermining the rest of your efforts and affecting the return on any new business investment you are making.

But the good news? This is a huge opportunity to make marginal gains. In this episode of Small Spark Theory, we explore the common website pitfalls and how to tackle them. And in true marginal gains spirit, you've only got to be that little bit better, engage with one more budget holding prospect to make a difference to your bottom line.

If you’re not sure about your website, try our quiz, just answer the following with a yes or no.

1.    Has your current website been redesigned or significantly overhauled in the last 3 years?

2.    Do you have a blog?

3.    Is your blog a subfolder of your main site (eg: www.joebloggs.com/blog) or a separate, but linked url?

4.    Do you update your blog at least once a month?

5.    Are there sharing links on all of your blog posts?

6.    Is there a twitter feed on your website?

7.    Are links to ALL of your social channels active and easily seen on your website?

8.    Does your website talk about your people/team?

9.    Does it name the senior team/key contacts?

10. Are there contact details for named MD, or new business contact?

11. Get someone outside your agency (your mum, a neighbour, someone on the bus) and ask them to read the ‘About Us’ descriptor on your homepage. Do they immediately understand what you do?

12. Are your case studies up to date?

13. Do your case studies make clear the problem that you solved and what you actually delivered?

14. Do you track Google Analytics?

15. Do you know the primary source of your site traffic?

16. Do you update the content on your website yourselves or is it done by a third party?

17. Are you using SEO keyword techniques when you upload content?

18. Have you ever used Google Adwords?

19. Do you have a legal footer on your homepage stating your company registration details etc.?

20. Are you happy with your website?

If you score more than 10 no's - feel free to get in touch, we can help!

Website grader is also an excellent resource to put your site through its paces ...

This month’s book recommendation is  To Sell is Human by Daniel H Pink, listen to this episode for a chance to win a copy.

From the very beginning of this crisis I was blown away by the speed with which the Design Business Association team leapt into action to provide a virtual space for discussion, advice and community support. On any given week, agencies (members and non-members alike) could access free webinars to understand the implications of the evolving crisis and tap into expert advice to help navigate a way forward.

So here we some 4 months on. What have we learnt? And what is the outlook for the design industry? I managed to wrangle some time with Design Business Association Chief Executive Deborah Dawton to find out.

You can find out more about DBA membership here and access the ‘Ask an Expert’ scheme here.

It’s worth pointing out that this band of agencies makes up an increasing large proportion of the UK landscape. But regardless of their specialism, at this size, effective new business resourcing is a common challenge. Whether the goal is steady growth or revenue maintenance, often the numbers simply don’t warrant a dedicated new business recruit and good external lead generation resource can be out of reach.

It was this thinking that prompted the launch of the New Business and Marketing Bootcamp – designed specifically to provide leaders and founders of this type of agency with the tools to create effective new business and marketing plans and take control of the process.

But what about when you break through that threshold and are ready to hire your first in-house new business talent? Our industry is littered with war stories of new business hires that that were at best ineffective and at worst, damaging to the agency brand. And for new business folk, there can be wildly unrealistic expectations to manage.

So how to get the balance right? For this episode I chatted to Dave Corlett from Workbrands. Having spent 12 years in new business development roles, Dave shares his insights on making new business roles stick, the importance of collaboration, communication and how to stay competitive.

If you are running an agency and considering your first new business hire or starting out on your new business career – this is the episode for you!

Listen in to find out how to win a copy of Dave’s recommended read: Ogilvy on Advertising in the Digital Age.

Details of the New Business & Marketing Bootcamp can be found at www.smallsparktheory.com  

Can you believe we’re already in February? In this episode, we’re diving deep into one of the most crucial (yet often overlooked) aspects of agency sales and marketing—measurement.

If you’ve ever struggled with tracking the success of your marketing efforts or found yourself making gut-based decisions about new business opportunities, this episode is for you.

I’ll break down two key areas:

• Marketing Measurement: How to stay consistent by using a simple tracking tool to see what’s really working.
• New Business Pipeline Measurement: Moving beyond guesswork with a structured, percentage-based system that brings financial visibility and clarity to your pipeline.

There's some fiddly detail in this episode so I've compiled everying into a handy guide that you can download here and start implementing today. Please do get in touch to let me know how you get on. 

Also mentioned in this episode: 

One Small Spark - Gunpowder's monthly challenge email.

EP26: Client Development Part One with Iain Johnston

Gunpowder’s Lucy Mann has worked in agency new business for over 25 years and has witnessed these scenarios, and many more like them, as an outsourced new business telemarketer, a new business recruitment consultant, in house new business developer, in house head of marketing, and new business mentor across multiple disciplines and agency shapes and sizes.

Regardless of size and discipline, many agencies encounter the same new business challenges, and more and more, the solution is not necessarily an ambitious marketing plan, or expensive sales resource, but instead a forensic application of process and a marginal gains approach to performance improvement.

Gunpowder’s podcast, Small Spark Theory™ explores the small changes we can make to our sales and marketing process to achieve better new business results. With contributions from a range of experts, each episode will examine a single element of the process in detail, providing manageable tips for improvement.

Find our more about Gunpowder Consulting, please visit gunpowderconsulting.com
Follow us on Twitter @gunpowdertweets and join the conversation at #smallsparktheory
Music from Jukedeck - create your own at http://jukedeck.com.
With thanks to Matthew Syed for audio extract permission.
Host - Lucy Mann
Editor - Isabelle Jarvis
Producer - Rosanna Miles makemypodcast.space

Andrew Southcott is Managing Director at creative agency group Captivate. Andrew hired me last year to work with Captivate’s new business talent, a move that came as part of a wider initiative to bring in external expertise for advice, support or training on a range of themes across the business.

For me, this is a dream engagement. Mentoring up and coming new business talent is one of the most rewarding parts of my job, but I was interested to explore Andrew’s leadership approach – a growth mindset clearly focussed on development, improvement, and well…. marginal gains!

In this episode Andrew talks us through his experiences of the last year and how a range of experts and outsourced resource are adding value across the business. It’s a fascinating listen, jam packed with great insights and advice.

Breaking with convention, instead of a book recommendation, check out the YouTube channel Ashville Aggregates – for a example of entrepreneurship in action.

It’s been a while since we talked about new business talent on this podcast. But after a bumpy couple of years, it seems like the right time to shine a spotlight on the superstars in our industry who willingly show up every day to seek out new clients for their agencies.

I wrote about the challenges for new business practitioners for Mental Health Awareness week highlighting the importance of getting the right support in place to retain our industry talent. So I was delighted to chat to Adam Graham about his new business community, BD Matters.

Together we discuss the highs and lows of marketing and prospecting, managing expectations, the power of community and share some top tips for agency owners looking to support their new business folk.

Adam’s recommended read is a Small Spark Theory favourite, To Sell Is Human by Daniel Pink. Join in the conversation on Twitter, LinkedIn or Instagram using #smallsparktheory for your chance to win a copy.

You can find out more about BD Matters here.

To chat in confidence about Lucy’s mentoring, feel free to book in a time here.

And whether this activity is managed in-house, our outsourced to a lead generation specialist, it certainly is an investment; either in salary, in fees and always in time. At best, this activity can be highly effective, delivering sizeable portfolio clients but for every success story, there are untold examples of ineffective prospecting activity.

Alex Sibille and Dan Sudron set up The Future Factory 2011 and since then, their team of 30 have worked with over 300 agencies undertaking lead generation and new business training for some of London’s biggest and smallest creative, comms and digital agencies. Last year their clients won new business in excess of £15m through The Future Factory's work. In this episode, Alex and Dan join me to discuss the common lead generation pitfalls and opportunities for performance improvement.

In this episode, Alex and Dan join me to discuss the common lead generation pitfalls and opportunities for performance improvement.

This month’s book recommendation is The Win Without Pitching Manifesto by Blair Enns, listen to this episode for a chance to win a copy.

You can find out more about The Future Factory here. 

Aside from agency size and structure, services, client sector focus, and the deeply personal experiences of managing pipeline, clients and teams whilst either squashed together with, or isolating without family, there is the issue of cash.

In almost every case it is the agency’s cash position going into this crisis that determines how able they will be to emerge. Cash provides time. Time to think, to adapt, to respond.

So as we move into this next phase, and negotiate anew with clients and prospects, how can we maximise our cash? How do we make sure we still get paid for our ideas and solutions?

In this episode, I talk to Independent Financial Director and cash flow specialist Michelle Cook. We learn how Michelle has harnessed Just-In-Time methodology used in manufacturing to revolutionise cash management and her top tips for invoicing, negotiating terms and avoiding payment delays.

This is another perfect example of how small changes in our processes can deliver marginal gains.

We’ll be giving away a copy of Michelle’s recommended read The Innovation Book: How to Manage Ideas and Execution for Outstanding Results by Max Mckweown. Listen in to find out how to win.

You can find Michelle on LinkedIn here. And if you want to discuss a new business challenge, you can book into my diary here.  

Pip Stocks runs Brandhook, a Mebourne-based brand and customer experience consultancy. 

Over the last four years Pip, and Brandhook, have owned the conversation around “Closing the Gap”, understanding how brands can get closer to their customers in an era of increasing digital disruption.

I’ve followed the progress of Closing the Gap, as a series of presentations, blog posts, editorials, a podcast, numerous speaking engagements and a book. It has been a masterclass in agency thought leadership campaigning I have referenced to my clients again and again.

Pip joins me to talk agency positioning, service innovation, thought leadership campaigning and more.

You can see more about Brandhookand check out the new platform, Hearsay.

Kara Swisher’s podcast is Recode Decode

As always we’ve giving away a copy of Pip’s recommended read, Small Data by Martin Lindstrom. Listen in to find out how to win.

When I saw the title of Matt Watkinson’s new book, Mastering Uncertainty, earlier this year I jumped at the chance to interview him on the podcast.

Matt runs LA based agency Methodical. His first book, The 10 Principles Behind Great Customer Experiences had already been recommended on here by Nick Phipps back in episode 22 and having subsequently enjoyed his next book, The Grid, I was eager to see what Matt had to say about how we navigate these uncertain times.

It turns out the book is far from a response to our post-pandemic disarray, but a rallying cry to not only accept uncertainty as a constant reality, but to use it to our advantage.

There are so many new business takeaways in this conversation. I’ll be bulk ordering copies of Mastering Uncertainty for my clients, and giving away a copy with this episode, as well as a copy of the Grid – essential reading for anyone running a business or selling marketing services to businesses. Listen in to find out how to win.

Also mentioned in this episode:

Gap Selling: Getting the Customer to Yes: How Problem-Centric Selling Increases Sales by Changing Everything You Know About Relationships, Overcoming Objections, Closing and Price by Keenan

Accelerating Excellence by James A. King

This episode is sponsored by E2M, the #1 white label digital agency partner. Visit https://www.e2msolutions.com/smallsparktheory/ to enjoy 20% discount on your first month.  

In recent episodes, we’ve talked a lot about change and uncertainty, the persistent undercurrents unsettling our new business efforts and impacting our client relationships.

So, it seems a perfect time to speak to someone who has an unrivalled perspective of the agency and client dynamic – Tina Fegent.

From becoming one of the first marketing buyers in the UK over 25 years ago, Tina has set up and led procurement teams at some of the largest buyers of marketing services and led commercial teams at leading UK agencies.

In this episode, we discuss the shifts in how clients buy, and how agencies sell, what we can do to maximise our client relationships, why positioning matters more than ever, managing a personal brand and how to get your portrait taken by Rankin!

Tina’s recommended read is Buying Less for Less: How to Avoid the Marketing Procurement Dilemma by Gerry Preece. Listen in to find out how to win a copy.

This episode is sponsored by E2M, the #1 white label digital agency partner. Visit https://www.e2msolutions.com/smallsparktheory/ to enjoy 20% discount on your first month.  

Also mentioned in this episode:

IPA & CIPS Top Tips For Better Working Relationships

IPA Magic & Logic

This realisation was the basis for starting Gunpowder as a consulting business almost a decade ago and latterly, the understanding that taking a marginal gains approach could ease the some of that discomfort, the premise for launching this podcast.

Hot off the press, Catalyst: Using Personal Chemistry to Convert Contacts into Contracts  is a wonderful new book by Louisa Clarke and David Kean which gets to the very heart of new business. Exploring how our human interactions determine how we succeed and jam packed with actionable tips, this must read manual confirms that being a catalyst isn’t just the preserve of the new business professional, but a set of skills can (and should) be learned by anyone, one marginal gain at a time.

Louisa and David join me in this episode to share their own ‘catalytic’ experiences and pass on their advice. This is an energising listen for anyone who has lost their new biz mojo or simply wants to feel more confident starting, maintaining and growing a professional network.

As always we’ll be giving away of copy of Catalyst, listen in to find out how to win.

Also mentioned in this episode:

How to Win Friends and Influence Profits

Pitching to Win

The Caffeine Partnership

Forthwrite

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

Carnival of Snackery by David Sedaris

One of the most exciting developments I've spotted so far in 2025 has to be the launch of the Department of Creative Affairs (DCA).

So, I was delighted that DCA's founder, Amar Chohan, was able to join me for a chat here on Small Spark Theory.

In this episode, Amar shares his career journey—from aspiring lawyer to media sales—before spending 11 years at Contagious, championing creative excellence.

Now at the helm of DCA, Amar is on a mission to shine a light on independent agencies, helping them form stronger partnerships and gain the recognition they deserve. We talk about the frustrations with the traditional intermediary model and explore how DCA is taking a fresh, transparent, and content-led approach—giving independent agencies a louder voice and a fairer shot at attracting marketing spend.

Amar's recommended read is The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz—listen in to find out how to win a copy.

Get in touch with Amar here if you'd like to learn more about how DCA can support your agency.

Also mentioned in the episode:

• Pay-to-Play Pitch Schemes Are Putting Agency/Client Relationships at Risk

• One Small Spark – Gunpowder’s monthly challenge email.