Did your agency have a rough 2023?
A lot of agencies have told Chip and Gini that 2023 was a bad year for them. Fellow agency adviser Karl Sakas posted on LinkedIn that he has been asked if it was bad for everyone. In this episode, Chip and Gini share their perspectives — along with things that positioned some agencies for success in what many experienced as a down year. Whether you had a good or bad year, there are lessons to take away to make 2024 and future years more successful. Key takeaways Gini Dietrich: “The lesson here is that things are cyclical. And you have to be ready for the ups and the downs.” Chip Griffin: “Fundamentally it comes down to this: you always need to keep your eye on ensuring that you are consistently bringing in profitable work.” Gini Dietrich: “In some cases, you’ve created the problem, so there’s no reason for you not to fix it.” Chip Griffin: “Take control. You are the boss.” Resources Karl Sakas’ LinkedIn post Who’s the Boss? Abed’s answer Related Webinar: What to do when you feel burned out as an agency owner Is business slowing down for agencies in 2023? View Transcript The following is a computer-generated transcript. Please listen to the audio to confirm accuracy. Chip Griffin: Hello and welcome to another episode of the Agency Leadership Podcast. I’m Chip Griffin. Gini Dietrich: And I’m Gini Dietrich. Chip Griffin: And Gini, so glad 2023 is behind us. It was the worst year ever in the whole history. Worst. Gini Dietrich: Worst. Okay. Worst. Worst. All right. Let’s talk about it. Chip Griffin: All right. Right after this. Well, I mean, there, there was 2020, I suppose. Gini Dietrich: And there was 2009. Chip Griffin: Yeah, yeah. So maybe that’s not actually true. Gini Dietrich: Probably not. You might be exaggerating a little bit. Chip Griffin: I might be. I might be just trying to set up our topic for the day. I mean, it’s entirely possible. You might I might, I might have done that once or twice on this show in order to get started. Gini Dietrich: Yep. So. Hyperbole is where it’s at. Chip Griffin: But, but the reality is we’re going to talk about a post, by our friend Karl Sakas, who back, I don’t know, a couple of weeks ago posted on LinkedIn, that an agency CEO had asked him if 2023 was abnormally bad for agencies. And, the follow up was, do you think there is an issue in the market? Or is this just a phase of natural selection weeding out the ones who only ride the growth wave? So he goes on and we’ll link the, the, the full post in, the comments. His basic answer was. Yeah, he did think that the 2023 was bad for agencies. He acknowledges 2020, but says that was bad for everyone, not just agencies. Mm hmm. Mm hmm. So my first question is can we agree that 2023 was bad for agencies generally? Gini Dietrich: Oh, that’s the question? Chip Griffin: That was a question. Yes, that was a question. That’s the question. Gini Dietrich: That’s the question. Chip Griffin: And for those of you watching on video, we once again have our doggy co host here, so. Gini Dietrich: She likes to hang out with us. Chip Griffin: So, so if you hear a little licking the microphone right now, licking noise on the microphone, that is not me. If you’re listening in audioland. And it is not Gini. Gini Dietrich: Or is it? Chip Griffin: It is the dog. It is definitely not. Gini Dietrich: you know, it’s funny. You ask that question now that I realize it’s a question. because a lot, I would say a majority of our Spin Sucks community complained last year about how bad it was and how hard it was to not just find new, fill the pipeline, but to close the prospects that said they were interested, like it was taking longer. Some were being, some were being ghosted and that kind of stuff. On the flip side, it was our best year in history. So I’m trying to figure out what the… like, it’s certainly, it’s not a focus, a huge focus group, right? It’s a focus group of a few hundred, not of thousands. But, I don’t know what the disconnect is or why it was great for s