If you want to scale an agency to 7-Figures, the most important thing you can work on is your business model.
You see, every startup has a vision. I’m sure you do too for your agency. And that vision informs a certain strategy.
That strategy is a plan that tells you how you’ll grow to 7-figures. That plan will always be based on some facts, and some assumptions.
The biggest problem agency owners face is that they don’t have a model to identify those assumptions and test them.
So what ends up happening is that they take action, do marketing, do sales, and when results don’t come, they have no clue what’s not working. So they blame it on the ads, or on the outreach, without truly understanding that there is a faulty assumption in their business model which will keep them stuck.
Unless it is removed. I created the NPOT Methodology™ to do exactly that. NPOT stands for Niche, Problem, Offer and Transformation. If you know these 4 factors about an agency, you essentially know their business model.
A strong NPOT Model is a business model with correct assumptions. With a correct understanding & selection of the niche being served, a correct understanding of their problems, what they want, how they want to pay, and what transformation they want to achieve.
Reading below will help you apply the NPOT Model to your own agency.
1. WHO do you want to help?
It’s true, you could probably help many different businesses. But it’s hard to stand out and build credibility when you have 10 clients, across 10 different industries.
Much easier when you have a NICHE and build niche-specific case studies & solutions. Then you can just resell the same working solutions, and one successful client can lead to another. You save time both on service fulfilment, and client acquisition AND you increase the success rate of your clients.
Also, think about it, if you’re a dentist, who would you rather choose if you knew nothing else about them?
• The general marketing agency
OR
• The marketing agency for dentists
Case closed. Pick a niche.
2. WHAT is their dream outcome?
Don’t go straight to identifying problems for the niche. Problems are always a consequence of your target audience’s dream outcome.
Problem: Need a new vacuum cleaner
Dream outcome: Clean floors
It may be possible to obtain the TRANSFORMATION with a cleaning service, not a new vacuum cleaner.
Can you see how thinking about problems before you get clarity on the dream outcome is a waste of time?
As an agency owner, your job is to identify the best way to deliver the transformation that your niche desires.
That’s what you get paid the big money for.
But most agency owners are still stuck at the level of selling a service: Google Ads, Meta Ads, YouTube ads, SEO, Web Design, etc.
When you just sell a service, you’re out there in an OCEAN of other agencies selling that same service.
Switch to selling a transformation – and add whatever services are required to deliver that in the most efficient way possible.
3. WHY can’t they achieve their dream outcome?
Think about what MOST prevents your niche from achieving their dream outcome.
• Is it a bad offer?
• Is it lack of authority?
• Is It a “Me Too” Positioning?
• Is it their sales process?
• Is it poor communication skills?
• Is it their strategy?
It will usually be different from what they think it is. That’s why they need YOU.
They may think they need someone to run Google Ads for them. Or someone to get them leads.
But if their offer sucks, they’ll get 0 sales.
If they lack authority, no one will trust them to buy.
If their sales process is ineffective, they won’t be able to turn inquiries into customers.
And so on…
After all, if they knew how to achieve their dream outcome, they wouldn’t be hiring your agency. Or if they would be hiring your agency, they would be paying pennies, because you’d be just a “helping hand”, not a strategic advisor.
So your job isn’t so much to SOLVE their problem, as it is to help them IDENTIFY the correct problem to solve.
You’ve got to help them figure out what the real PROBLEM they need to solve is!
4. HOW will you get them past the problem to achieve the transformation?
You need to give them a way that is unique and different from what they’ve tried before to sidestep the problem and achieve the transformation they desire.
This is your OFFER – remember, unique & different!
You’re now selling the transformation.
So it’s not just Google Ads.
It’s this kind of ads, going to this kind of landing page, going to this kind of call, which the client uses this script to convert, and then obtain testimonials like so, etc.
That’s the offer – and a good strategy is to give it a name, build a proprietary system around it. Then sell that system, your intellectual property.
If you can’t deliver a result for them, you’re wasting your time, and you’re wasting theirs.
And guess what, 90%+ of small agencies today are wasting people’s times. I’ve seen it with my own eyes. Most of their clients don’t get results. It’s why when I ask them they’re like “Uhh clients usually stay for 6 months”… of course they do, because you suck!
When I ran my agency I had clients that I worked with for 5 years+… because I was their go-to source of information, a strategic advisor… that’s what you should aim to become.
And it starts with creating an offer that is unique & different… built around your own intellectual property. A system that is the best way for your niche to obtain the transformation you deliver.
Summary – The NPOT Methodology™
Niche – WHO do you want to help?
Problem – WHY can’t they achieve their dream outcome?
Offer – HOW do you get them past the problem to the transformation?
Transformation – WHAT is their dream outcome?
Your unique combination is your NPOT Model…
Your NPOT Model determines the scaling potential of your agency. It’s like a car’s engine…
The 2-liter 4-cylinder 147 horsepower engine of a Hyundai Veloster only goes so fast, regardless of how much you slam down on that accelerator.
Compare this to the 8-liter W16 987 horsepower engine of a Bugatti Veyron and it’s clear who wins the race!
The same thing is true for your agency. If your NPOT Model sucks, then you won’t be able to scale or it will take you a very long time. And it has nothing to do with your sales or marketing skills.
It’s not because of cold email, cold calling, or whatever other method you use that it’s not working.
It’s all about not having the right foundations.
Looking to Add Predictable Growth to your Business?
Hey, thanks for reading this article, I hope you got great value out of it. I'm the founder of TANDA Digital, Tudor Dumitrescu (click to follow me on LinkedIn) and I've made it my mission in life to empower 25,000 business owners to grow with confidence through systematic improvements in their business development processes.
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