Forbes Article – A Blessing And A Curse: How Can Leaders Manage Their Egos? My thanks to Forbes Magazine for asking me to contribute to this article. The term ego is used to refer to a person’s sense of ‘self’. It encompasses their thoughts and feelings, including their self-esteem and sense of self-importance. We all have an ego. A healthy ego is a good thing because it boosts our self-confidence, pushing us to confront or overcome our fears. […]
Medium Article – Rob King of The Client Key On How To Be Great At Sales Without Seeming Salesy Timing is everything in sales. Go too hard, too early and you’ll lose. Too late and the moment has passed. You’ve got to find the right balance between proactivity and giving people space. As a part of my series about how to be great at closing sales without seeming pushy, obnoxious, or salesy, I had the pleasure of interviewing Rob King. Rob King is the founder […]
The real reasons your agency is not growing fast enough. Sales needs a rebrand in the creative industry. Too often it’s overlooked and seen as the poor relation to the creative function within agencies. It shouldn’t be this way. Incredibly, the UK’s world beating creative sector contributes £13M every hour to the economy. Yet, so many creative businesses and agencies still struggle to find consistent sales and growth. How can creatives rapidly grow their business? […]
Creative Agencies, there is no better time to be winning work There is no better time for creative agencies to be winning work. Either here in the UK, or in International Markets. The barriers to entry are lower than ever before and agencies can access new clients and new markets with minimal costs and time investment. Understanding your market: Picking the right market is critical, whether it is Tech, Retail etc; there is no point trying […]
Agencies Going Global: Now is the time. The Client Key supports many creative agencies with their overseas representation and business development. Here’s the good news: it is now easier than ever for small to mid-sized creative agencies to expand and start working internationally. Yes there are some short term challenges in terms of Covid restrictions but they won’t be there forever. The barriers to entry are lower than ever before and agencies […]
Agency Growth – Has the game changed? Not to put too fine a point on it, things have changed. The creative industries and agency world are now facing a new way, for new business. We are currently in the middle of a huge evolution in the way that clients work with their creative partners and agencies. The biggest challenge of all? Engagement. How do you engage people (e.g. your clients, current and […]
The dark art of lead generation Lead generation is not what it used to be. Five or Ten years ago you had a handful of simple options. Out-bound lead gen was done with the scattergun approach of buying data or using a ‘pitch fixer’, a super well connected individual whose job it was to get you in-front of big brand clients. In-bound lead gen was about your website, case studies and […]
Could you use a pair of fresh eyes? Has your business stopped growing? Are you now too busy working ‘in the business’, instead of ‘on the business’ to fix it? Would your agency benefit from our new business development audit and bespoke action plan? We’re looking for three creative businesses to trial this new programme at a one-off-cost of £950+ VAT. Our audit and action plan will help you if your agency has […]
The Truth about Agency Sales There are many misconceptions on the best ways to grow agencies and creative businesses. Most of them are inaccurate and very unhelpful for small to mid-sized agency owners. The Client Key has decades of experience in successfully growing agencies, production companies and creative organisations. So, in this article, we’re going to share some of our core ‘truths’ in agency new business. We hope that you’ll […]
Agencies: How to thrive and find new clients during a downturn? (And a lockdown!) Agencies and creative businesses are very much under pressure in today’s Covid affected world. The world (for now at least) has stopped travelling, meeting and interacting. Temporarily everything has changed the way we do business. Video calls have suddenly become the new normal and there are many questions about the long term effects of the disruption to creative businesses. This new way of operating is […]