Agency Lead Generation: Build the System vs. Working the System

This is a solo episode with no guest. Andrew Dymski, ZenPilot co-founder and a co-host of Agency Journey, talks through how an agency owner should split their time between building a lead generation system and working it. His argument is that most owners stay busy with marketing that doesn’t compound, and that the fix is four pieces of clarity followed by a lot of repetition.

Agencies underestimate what they’re building

Andrew opens with his definition of systems thinking: do something once so you never have to think about it again. An assembly line is easy to picture. An agency’s system is made of people, which is why owners miss how fragile it is.

We overestimate what we can deliver. We underestimate the complexity in what we’re offering. But as agencies, we’re building incredibly complex systems, and the more complex the system, the greater the likelihood that something is going to fall through the cracks.

(Listen at 01:10)

He sees the pattern with customers in ZenPilot’s accelerator program, on strategy sessions, and on podcast interviews. Lead generation needs the same treatment as delivery: consistent inputs, starting with how the owner spends the day.

Four inputs: audience, pain, proven process, business model

How do you create this regular input into the sales process? The answer is fourfold: one, audience; two, pain; three, your proven process; and four, a leveraged business model. Those four things together, we call this the Agency Profit Maximizer.

(Listen at 02:21)

The four are meant to be fused, not picked from. The pain piece gets the most time, because most agencies solve problems that are easy to buy elsewhere.

We don’t want to get caught in the game of solving un-costly pains. There’s a lot of us in that spot right now. It’s not hard for someone to find someone else to build Facebook ads for them. It’s not hard for someone to go find someone else who can build a website for them… That kind of stuff is commoditized. What we want to figure out is, what’s the costly pain that they’re stuck in that they can’t get out of right now?

(Listen at 02:58)

With all four in place, he says, the messaging gets clear enough to test and pivot on real feedback, and the agency can charge a premium instead of competing as a commodity.

One client narrowed their scope and got a waiting list

Andrew admits there’s fear in turning away most of the market, and frames the narrowing as a gift.

Heck no to 99% and heck yes to the 1%. That’s when you really jump forward… One of our clients put it this way: that narrowing their scope actually broadened their reach. And now these guys have a three-month waiting list to start working with this agency, because they did this work and they went through the Agency Profit Maximizer process. They’re selective now. They’ve got a steady flow of folks coming in.

(Listen at 06:46)

The payoff shows up in the sales call.

There’s a massive difference in a sales call between someone who has applied to speak with you and someone that you’re chasing down to see, what do you need? Is there anything that you do that I could help with? It’s all a positioning game.

(Listen at 07:26)

The way to get there, he says, is a standardized process you work, rather than more hustle.

Random acts of marketing drain the owner’s focus

What you want to avoid here is just random acts of marketing. Those random acts, they can kill the way you market your agency, because they’re just draining, they’re diluting. Your focus is a massive asset as a business owner. It affects your ability to creatively solve problems. It affects your ability to look at chaos and see opportunity.

(Listen at 08:42)

Spreading attention across many channels and kinds of prospects leaves an owner reacting instead of deciding. Switching deliverables all the time has the same effect: you can’t build a consistent business while the offer keeps changing.

Pick one channel and earn the right to add a second

Instead of trying like 15 different platforms, 15 different types of doing things, just pick one. Master it. Whatever it is: if it’s podcasting, great. If it’s LinkedIn outreach, great. If it’s doing live webinars, great. Find that one thing and just focus on running that one thing over and over again until you earn the right to try the second, to try the third, to try the fourth.

(Listen at 09:52)

Andrew suggests auditing your time to see how many unrelated things you’re attempting. His closing summary has two steps: narrow what you do to a single point and put your momentum behind it, then show up.

90% of this game, guys, is just showing up and doing the work. Focusing your attention, getting the distracted shiny object syndrome out of the gate. Ignore that. Do the simple things. Just show up every single day and make it happen.

(Listen at 11:09)

Eliminating 80% of the distraction around lead generation and speaking to one specific group of people is, he says, what changes the game.