Getting inspiration from England Rugby's unlikely win over France

Issue #49

Feb 10, 2025

It’s been quite the week, culminating if you are an English rugby supporter with England’s surprise win over France on Saturday. Despite most people, including my over-height buddy (you know who you are!), predicting defeat, England snatched a victory against the odds. There’s part of me that draws parallels with that result and the agency business where there’s a lot of negative growth sentiment in the market. What struck me is that with huge effort, a large dose of luck, and grabbing the opportunity when it comes along, it is possible to overcome the odds. And that’s a mindset all of us need to remember.

And so this week’s Agency Advisory includes a playbook for overcoming AI fee pressure, advice from a couple of quarters on growth strategies, a plea to demystify sales, and details on the new PRCA FRESH pitch framework.

Thank you as always to the individuals and organisations who have shared expertise, opinions and thoughts through this past week.

The playbook for responding to AI fee pressure

This might be the most helpful piece of content shared for some time.

Brian Kessman

has written a detailed guide to give agency leaders a framework to defend and elevate pricing in the AI era. Every agency is facing pressure to lower fees due to the outdated belief that value is tied to effort and speed rather than outcomes. What’s needed is a clear strategy to overcome the arguments presented by procurement and price-driven buyers. Brian’s playbook outlines what that strategy should look like. Thank you to Brian for sharing this valuable resource.

The Agency Leaders Playbook can be found here:

How to set your business up for success

Normally I wouldn’t include vendor materials in The Agency Advisory, but this blog from software firm Sage, written by Kieron Johnson, includes comment from Andrew Bloch which gives it authority for agency leaders. In it, Sage outlines six key strategies to position your business for growth, from strategic goal-setting to embracing AI. Andrew’s contribution is to remind us all to stop living in 2022 and to dust off that old business plan and update it. As he says: “Your market, customers and costs aren’t what they were in 2022, so don’t treat your business strategy like it’s frozen in time. Be realistic, align it with opportunities and challenges ahead and make sure it reflects where you want your business to go.”

Sales is not a dark art – let’s demystify it!

A great post from Richard Goold that boldly (and correctly IMO) states that sales has a branding problem across the consulting world. Why is it that many in agency land consider sales to be a dirty word? Richard explains that it’s not about convincing clients to buy something they don’t need. Nor is it separate from delivering great work. And it’s certainly not only suited to extraverted personalities. If we all were to reframe sales in a more positive light and explain to all that it’s about asking great questions, active listening, being helpful and building long term relationships, then maybe more would embrace the concept.

In this post, Richard breaks the myth – read about it here:

PRCA FRESH framework aiming to fix broken pitch process

With thanks to

Sarah Waddington CBE

Wadds Inc. newsletter

for their analysis of the just announced PRCA management framework aimed at addressing the issues associated with new business pitching. If you missed this last year, the PRCA published the Pitch Forward report which concluded the procurement process for PR was broken. The new framework sets out a five-step process based on the acronym FRESH: Fair, Realistic, Ethical, Structured and with a Healthy conclusion. It addresses the issues identified in the original report and while a voluntary code, does represent a step forward in supporting agencies and client to work together to establish more efficient, ethical and effective pitch processes (and experiences).

Check out Sarah Waddington’s blog on Wadds, Inc. here:

Find the full PRCA version of the FRESH framework here:

An agency account growth playbook

Regardless of whether 2025 is a better year for new business, the imperative will continue to be client retention and organic growth. And that’s why Max Traylor’s agency account growth playbook is worth looking at. Max states that the experience gap between agency teams and budget holding decision makers is often too wide. Inexperience causes scope creep, a reluctance to advise on change, and results in a transactional relationship. Max’ playbook contains valuable advice on the role of account management, or – as he calls it – Growth Advisors.

Check out the playbook here – do your AMs fulfil this role?

The leadership versus competence dilemma

This is an interesting article by

McKinsey

Snr Partner, Carolyn Dewar, who highlights the uncomfortable truth that many organisations are unwittingly rewarding confidence over competence. Carolyn states that “true leadership isn’t about who talks the loudest; it’s about who delivers results, builds trust, and creates lasting impact.” Taking this further, Carolyn explores the impact of hidden bias in performance management saying those that are better at self-promotion often receive higher ratings. So if you are looking at your senior leaders and embarking on performance reviews, this article in The Strategic CEO newsletter is well worth bookmarking.

Find The Strategic CEO newsletter here:

Book of the week

My friend and Folgate Advisor Founder, David Gallagher, has put forward a book recommendation that he considers probably the most important book for PR pros to read.

“Invisible Rulers” by Renée DiResta hits on some heavy subjects - “consequences of a new media environment shaped by influencers, algorithms and the crowds they spawn - polarization, extremism and, as current events unfold, real crises in our democracies.”

Head over to David’s own review and then to Amazon to buy yourself a copy!

If you like what you have read in this newsletter, please do repost it to your network, comment on one or other of the topics that have been covered, and if you don't do so already, follow me for more shared posts on matters relating to agency management and comms in general.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/andyjhwest/

Many thanks.

Andy