Twenty-year-old, mid-sized independent agency in Texas with no clear vertical focus. Founder/Owner felt like they really didn’t have a lot of bench strength in terms of leadership and industry expertise. Owner originally approached us with a desire to sell his agency. Our initial response and query helped this owner recognize he was confusing a desire to sell with career fatigue and boredom. He wasn’t sure what he should do next; focus, grow, or make it more fun. We landed on FOCUS which leads to the rest.

This agency, while a known entity in its market, was not necessarily seen as an “expert” in any one vertical, rather a generalist with strong creative execution. While not a bad position to start from, it was not the type of reputation which was going to catapult them into a position of expertise and category leadership. For this to happen we will need to focus our efforts around hires, training, industry involvement and client prospecting.

Austin Amplifies conducted a two-part vision session. The first session was one-on-one with the owner; we established his growth goals, personal goals and desired outcomes for the next three years. We isolated what was causing the fatigue and boredom, and set out to address it with a plan that included his strongest leaders. We identified where he had permission to win and grow and what it would take to pivot and create a posture of growth. From there we addressed what was missing to make that happen.

From the session with the owner we put together a growth strategy that included two key hires and an expanded depth of knowledge in the two key verticals they have experience and expertise in today.

Three months after the session with the owner, Austin Amplifies interviewed two of the agency leaders to gain some additional insight. Some of the ideas lined up and some did not.

The second full session included the owner and his agency leaders. Our goal was to align the growth strategies or come up with new ones. After two days as a group, we reached alignment of several key growth strategies they have since implemented. He was pleased with the renewed sense of excitement from the leadership and they all left with a roadmap and 100-day plan to stay on track.

Vetting the personal goals of the owner as well as the business goals really helped this particular owner see where the magic was missing and how his shop had seemed to be rudderless for a while. The energy unlocked during the one-on-one session was akin to the first year of operation of the agency, all was being seen as new again. Sometimes we simply need to give ourselves permission to learn and do a new thing, even when that new thing is not what anyone else expects.

Four months post the group session: The two key positions identified were filled. The agency is on track to have their best first quarter ever, (after a very strong fourth quarter). The agency is experiencing renewed confidence regarding their future success and plans to expand the office are in final stages. A posture of growth was something they had in them all along, they simply needed a bit of nudging to help it rise up and be seen.