The Offering Ladder: How Small Wins Lead to BIG AGENCY SUCCESS

00:00:00 - Starting Small: Building Relationships with Big Brands
00:01:00 - Understanding Data: Positioning Brands Effectively
00:02:00 - Creating Value: The Foot-in-the-Door Strategy
00:03:00 - Customizing Solutions: Building Trust for Retainers

How do you start landing big clients? Is not exactly like you can just come in and say they need to fire all their other agencies because yours is better. So how do you start to build trust with the client and ultimately prove yourself to be a great asset to them?

Breaking into work with large brands often requires a strategic "foot-in-the-door" approach rather than attempting to immediately displace existing agencies. Success typically begins with identifying and solving specific, manageable pain points within one department.

For example, consider my agency’s experience with Crystal Springs – our relationship began simply by designing banner images for their trucks, but this small project laid the foundation for broader opportunities.

The key is to start with projects that present minimal risk to the client while demonstrating your agency's capabilities. For instance, we helped Lotus Cars and Porsche leverage their social media data to inform their branding keywords – a low-risk project that delivered tangible value. Large organizations often have vast amounts of data but struggle to extract meaningful insights from it, creating an opportunity for agencies to prove their worth.

This is the type of service you could sell as part of a foot-in-the-door strategy where there’s nothing for them to lose.

The biggest mistake people make with the middle offering is they think it should be the same every time. On the contrary, an initial meeting with the client should be enough for them to tell you their biggest obstacles and your offer should aim to solve that. This customization fosters a sense of partnership and collaboration, reinforcing trust. Rather than offering a one-size-fits-all solution, your approach will be to engage clients in identifying their unique challenges and then creating bespoke projects that address those concerns.

Focus on making this foot-in-the-door something you can build in a short amount of time instead of a big project. Ideally, it should also be something you can build with them including, thereby in the process.

The transition to a retainer relationship becomes natural once you've proven your value – after all, consistent positive results make a compelling case for long-term partnership.