Common Problems Digital Agencies Have With Sales

Doctors don’t write prescriptions until they have examined the patient. The best doctors diagnose and treat the root causes of disease, not the surface symptoms. We take the same approach.

We’ve found the following six symptoms to be the most commonly experienced by agency owners, freelancers, and sales managers. Which statement best describes your situation? You may identify with more than one.

Frustrated Sales Pro

We’re Not Generating Enough Good Leads

Lead generation issues are made up of two related yet different problems, and we must identify which issue you’re dealing with before prescribing a solution.

  • Some people have a lead volume issue. They need 10 leads a month but are getting only 5.
  • Some people have a lead quality issue. They are getting 10 leads a month, but most are junk. 

Many agencies struggle with both issues. Successful solutions tend to be found in the areas of branding, agency positioning, product development, and marketing strategy plus execution.

We’re Having Trouble Closing Deals

If you have decent leads, but you’re struggling to close deals, you may have one or more of the following sales issues. Which of these scenarios best describes your situation?

  • We lose deals I think we should win, and I’m not sure why. 
  • We’re busy with our current clients and struggle to respond promptly to new leads. 
  • Our people lack sales experience, and they need more training.
  • It seems like every prospect has been burned by their last agency, so they don’t trust us either.
  • I just hate selling. I’d rather do client work. I know I have to do it, but I hate it.

Whether it’s a staffing issue, a process issue, or a skill issue that is holding back your sales results, we offer a variety of solutions.

I’m the Owner, I’m Handling Sales, and I’m Overwhelmed

Does this scenario sound familiar?

You put some effort into marketing and close some deals. While you’re busy trying to make your new clients happy and running your agency, marketing falls by the wayside, and your sales pipeline dries up. Eventually, you lose a client or two, need more business, and have to crank up the marketing engine from a dead stop. The cycle of being overwhelmed never seems to stop.

We call this the Hamster Wheel of Death.

Book a free sales strategy session, so we can help you solve the problem.

Start Solving Sales

 

We offer a complimentary strategy session to determine if we’re a fit for each other. This is not a sales pitch disguised as a consultation.

We promise a productive conversation that will deliver actionable insights even if you never hire us.

Every Salesperson We’ve Hired Sucks

While it’s true that hiring good salespeople is challenging, there may be more fundamental reasons for your lack of recruiting success. The following sums up how we approach this issue:

Eighty-five percent of the reasons for failure are deficiencies in the systems and process rather than the employee. The role of management is to change the process rather than badgering individuals to do better. (W. Edwards Deming)

While sometimes there is a people problem, we must first ensure that you have differentiated service offerings paired with a sales system that makes success possible.

From individual coaching to team training to comprehensive consulting, we have solutions for any scenario and budget. View our solutions.

We’re Struggling to Train and Scale Our Sales Team

If the title of this section resonates with you, it may be for one of the following reasons.

  1. You started your agency because you were great at marketing or web development but not sales, so you’re a bit lost when it comes to hiring and managing sales professionals.
  2. You have found one or two sales reps who can sell, but they’re struggling in certain areas, and you’re not sure how to help them or don’t have the time.

 

This is a problem we are well-positioned to solve. You can start by ordering a copy of Clone the Ace, which provides a comprehensive blueprint for building a proven sales system.

And you may consider our consulting, coaching, and training options. Everything we do is tailored specifically to agencies that use online marketing and related digital services such as graphic design and web development.

We’re Having Trouble Retaining Clients

When an agency is having trouble retaining clients, most people think that the problem stems from issues with the people and processes used to deliver services to their clients. That makes sense and should certainly be investigated. However, shoddy work or poor client management may not be the only cause, or even the main cause, of your client retention woes.

Whenever client retention challenges surface, you should take a look at the types of clients you’re letting through the front door and the expectations being set during the sales process. If your sales team brings on clients that are a poor fit or over-promises on what your agency can deliver, they may be setting your delivery team up to fail.

45-Minute Sales Strategy Session

We offer a complimentary sales strategy session to determine if we’re a fit for each other.

It’s not a sales pitch. We promise you’ll leave our session with valuable insights.