How to Grow Existing Client Accounts at Your Agency

The best place to start is past clients. People who have already written you a check are more likely to write you a check than brand-new people.

You have gold there, and the mines have been covered up or flooded. You need somebody paying attention to that, because you guys are busy keeping the lights on. Replacing a client is very, very expensive, and you can see the new-client cost in what it takes to win a new client. Increasing the value of your current clients is the fastest way for you to start growing.

Key Takeaways

• If you did a website for a client, they think you're the website place.
• There's a lot of people out there who have work right now that they are not bringing to you, and there is a reason why.
• I never want to send an email asking for anything, because the more I'm asking, the more desperate it starts to sound.
• If we don't make it easy for people to buy our services, they will not buy our services.

Why don't your clients bring you more work?

Number one, they don't know when to hire you. Number two, they don't know what you do. They hired you for one thing.

If I go to a tire shop, I get tires. I don't go there for brakes. If you did a website for a client, they don't know you can do apps or UX design.

You think they know all your services, but they don't. I've sat on calls where the founder of an agency was gobsmacked. We were talking to one of their bigger clients, who had hired them to build websites. I asked about all the SEO work the agency had done for other companies, and the client said, "I didn't even know they did SEO."

I've gone to an agency's past clients and current clients and educated them on all the services it actually offers. You would not believe how many times a client has been like, "What? You guys do websites?" The agency has been doing websites for a decade. The client says, "Oh, well, I hired you for SEO, but I didn't know you could do websites."

What reason does a customer have to go back to your website after they bought from you? They're not going to go back and educate themselves. You have to go and teach your current clients what you actually do.

I tell people you don't need a PO to talk to me. But I guarantee you a lot of your clients probably think they need a PO to talk to you.

How do you find out what a client needs and why they stopped?

We need to figure out what they need, and that starts with listening to your existing clients. People have work right now that they're not bringing to you.

It could be their own internal bureaucracy, and that would be good to know. It could be that they did not have a great experience working with you, and they're hesitating. Or maybe they're shopping around.

You've got to talk to people, because people don't want to fill out a survey.

When I talk to an agency's clients, they have no reason to hold back with me. With the agency owner, there's a bit of ego involved. I know because I was one of them. The clients are going to tell me, where do you suck?

The other thing I like to do with my past clients, especially if some time has gone by, is reach out and ask them, "Why did you hire me?" If you let a little time go by, people are going to feel a little bit more comfortable being straight with you.

You need to do this customer research. There's so many blind spots that we have.

How do you spot the next job while you're already working for them?

You've got to come in as the expert. I know what's going on, and I'm a partner in the business success. That means saying what you see while the project is running: "Hey, you know, we're doing this website, but I keep seeing these signs about you guys need a portal of some kind. Do you guys want to talk about that?"

I would go back to past clients if I still had access to their analytics. I'd go in and say, "Hey, it looks like traffic is dropping in these areas. Maybe it's time for a refresh." Put on your calendar in six months to go in and check their analytics and see how things are going.

Somebody has to be responsible and accountable for the client. A salesperson's job is to land the first deal. The account manager's job is to land the third, fourth, and fifth deal. There is more work there with those clients, and it is their job to keep pulling it out of there.

Account managers pay for themselves in just retaining clients. Then they make even more, because they're looking and finding more work in there.

As more of your work comes from the same clients, keep an eye on how much of your revenue rides on your biggest client.

How do you stay in touch without asking for work?

I never want to send an email asking for anything. That's kind of my golden rule. The worst thing we can be doing is going to past clients and going, "How about now? How about now? How about now?"

What I send is something of value, something for them to react to. It might be, "Hey, we just published this article about this that made me think about you. Wanted you to check it out." Then I follow up with, "Hey, did you get a chance to review that article?" You pester them about the article. I don't mention the work until they mention the work.

Anytime I was working with an agency that reminded me of a past client, I would shoot the owner a message: "Hey, just wanted to let you know you're not the only person that had to go through this. I'm working with a place right now. How are things going? How's that project turning out that we worked on?"

We have a non-recycling mentality about clients. Once they've hired us and the work has ended, they're going to the landfill. We should be constantly chatting with them.

Those same people send you other clients. In SparkToro's 2024 State of Digital Agencies survey of 612 agency owners and consultants, 66 percent said existing and past clients are their top source of referrals for new business. Partner companies were second at nearly 13 percent. I've actually made more money from the referrals one past client gave me than I did off the work with them.

You aren't missing some trick you've never tried. Consistency is what's missing.

How do you make it easy for a client to say yes?

If we don't make it easy for people to buy our services, they will not buy our services. It's easier to buy when it's packaged, because it has a price, it has a timeline, and it has deliverables. Then somebody lower level can sign off on it without having to run it up to a VP.

People want low risk, high trust. They're buying outcomes. When a client bets money on an agency, they are paying for peace of mind that the project will stay on track, the people above them will not question the decision, and choosing you will not hurt them later.

One of your biggest opportunities right now is to add at least one additional service this year that you can sell into your existing clients. Go to existing customers and say, "Hey, we have this product. What do you think about it? Is this something you would buy?"

I've done this a bunch with current clients of mine. I test new offers and just see what they say. Some are like, "No, no way." Others are like, "Oh, well, why didn't you offer me that in the beginning?"

If we can convince the people who already trust us to buy things, it's going to be way easier to sell to new people.

How does Schmidt Consulting Group help an agency owner grow work from current clients?

Schmidt Consulting Group works with founder-led agencies and professional services firms on positioning, pricing, and new business.

Mentorship is twice-monthly counsel for founders on pricing, hiring, clients, and direction. The founder sets the agenda, and the firm's team does the work.

Advisory is a weekly operating rhythm for growth: a written plan, one priority at a time, and a review of results every week.

You'll hear the fee on our first call.