Latest · Tip No. 071
September 17, 2026 · 3 min read
Read the tip →New Business and Client Growth Aren't Two Different Jobs
Retention, expansion and acquisition do different jobs, but they shouldn't be run as separate strategies.
Tip No. 070
The Skills Your Client Services Team Needs in 2026
The client services role has changed dramatically, but the way most agencies develop their people hasn't. Here's where to focus.
Tip No. 067
3 Ways to Increase Revenue From Existing Clients
The cheapest growth you'll ever find is already on your client list.
Tip No. 066
The Signs a Client Is Ready for More Work
You know the warning signs of leaving. Do you know the buying signals?
Tip No. 065
How to Make Clients Feel Looked After, Without Adding More Meetings
Care isn't measured in calendar invites. It's built in small, specific moments that show you're thinking about their business.
Tip No. 064
What to Do When Client Confidence Starts Dropping
Spotting the drift is only half the job. Working harder isn't the answer, and here's what is.
Tip No. 063
Your Growth Engine Isn't Where You Think It Is
Growth still sits with the founder in most agencies. That's a fragile foundation when your delivery team has the client's full attention every week.
Tip No. 062
Your Internal Client Meetings Are Probably About the Wrong Things
If every catch-up is delivery and resourcing, nobody's actually managing the account.
Tip No. 061
Your Clients Aren't Ignoring You, They're Deprioritising You
Why 'just following up' doesn't work, and what to say instead when a client goes quiet on something important.
Tip No. 060
When Your Client's World Gets Harder
What you do when a client's sector is struggling says everything about the kind of partner you are.
Tip No. 059
Why Most Agency Accounts Stop Growing
It's rarely about effort. It's about where the relationship is stuck, and what actually moves it forward.
Tip No. 058
Hiring for the Role They'll Grow Into
The signals that separate a good AM from a future SAM are there in the interview room, if you know what to look for.
Tip No. 057
AI Won't Replace Client Services, But It Should Change How You Work
Jules Love from Spark AI shared practical ways client services teams can use AI with more structure and confidence, not as a shortcut for thinking, but a tool to think better.
Tip No. 056
The Moment Most Agencies Stop Caring (And Why It Costs Them)
How a relationship ends says more about your agency than how it started. Why closing well protects trust, reputation, and future opportunities.
Tip No. 055
Why Clients Leave, And What Actually Makes Them Stay
The warning signs are usually there much earlier than agencies realise. Retention is built in the small moments, not the big ones.
Tip No. 054
Your QBRs Probably Aren't Strategic Enough
If your quarterly reviews are just reporting sessions, you're missing the real opportunity. The best QBRs are future-focused commercial conversations.
Tip No. 053
The Hidden Cost of Always Being Responsive
Fast replies feel helpful, until they start hurting your positioning. How constant availability quietly turns strategic partners into operational support.
Tip No. 052
The Gap Between What Clients Need and What Agencies Deliver
700 client interviews. A few uncomfortable truths. Clients are stretched thinner than ever, and quietly expecting more from their agencies at the same time.
Tip No. 051
Why \"We Know They're Happy\" Isn't a Strategy
Most clients won't actually tell you when something's off, not clearly, and not early enough. Structured client listening is how you find out before it's too late.
Tip No. 050
The True Cost of Not Training Your Team
The impact of not training your team doesn't show up all at once. It creeps in, in client conversations, missed opportunities, and eventually retention.
Tip No. 049
Clear Communication Isn't the Same as Valuable Communication
You can be organised, responsive and polite, and still miss the point if what you're communicating isn't relevant to what your client cares about right now.
Tip No. 048
The Commercial Blind Spot Holding Your Team Back
If your team owns client growth, they need to understand the numbers behind it. Commercial clarity isn't something to protect, it's something to share.
Tip No. 047
Scope Is Where Your Margin Quietly Disappears
A strong proposal might win you the work. But it's the scope that determines whether that work is actually profitable.
Tip No. 046
The Proposal Problem Most Agencies Create for Themselves
A strong proposal starts long before you open PowerPoint. It starts with a strong brief, and an honest conversation about what can actually be delivered.
Tip No. 045
10 Questions That Make Client Briefs Much Clearer
Most briefs only tell you what a client thinks they need, rarely why it matters or what success actually looks like. Better discovery questions close the gap.
Tip No. 044
Why the First 90 Days With a New Client Matter More Than You Think
The first 90 days set the type of relationship you're going to have. Treat onboarding as a realignment, not a kickoff, and you move from supplier to partner.
Tip No. 043
Sharing Insights Is What Makes You Indispensable
Clients have a real appetite for sector-specific insight. Sharing it consistently is what shifts you from supplier to strategic partner, and quietly showcases your wider capability.
Tip No. 042
How to Make Procurement Your Ally (Not an Obstacle)
Procurement aren't the bad guys. Given the right insight and relationship, they can become an advocate for you, and shape the conditions around every decision in your favour.
Tip No. 041
Stop Selling Work Your Team Hasn't Met
If your Account Lead isn't in the room early, you might be creating problems before you've even won. Bring CS into qualified opportunities sooner than you think.
Tip No. 040
How Well Does Your Client Team Really Know Your Agency?
Your creds deck shouldn't live with leadership. It should be a shared commercial tool that gives client services the context, language and confidence to represent the agency well.
Tip No. 039
Client Growth Isn't About Being Pushy
If your team thinks 'commercial' means 'salesy,' this will help. What grows accounts is curiosity, presence, and better questions, not pressure.
Tip No. 038
Challenge the Brief
The difference between a yes agency and a transformative one isn't capability, it's the willingness to pause before agreeing to a piece of work.
Tip No. 037
Setting Up for 2026, The Monthly
The first monthly edition of the year, a handful of practical insights to steady your team, strengthen relationships, and move into 2026 prepared rather than reactive.
Tip No. 036
Happy New Year, Three Focus Areas for 2026
A short New Year's note with three sharp focus areas to carry into 2026: retention, strategic partnerships, and client experience.
Tip No. 035
Thank You, and Into 2026
A short note to close the year: 2026 will be about retention and growth of existing clients, earned through deeper, value-based partnerships.
Tip No. 034
Where Partnerships Actually Break
It's rarely the big moments that damage a client relationship. It's the small, everyday behaviours that quietly chip away at clarity and trust.
Tip No. 033
AI Without Guardrails Is a Quiet Risk
Most agencies are using AI daily, but very few have a policy for it. That's where capability quietly starts to leak.
Tip No. 032
When CS and Strategy Are Truly in Sync
Strategy builds the big ideas. Client Services are left to deliver them. Somewhere between the decks and the deadlines, alignment gets lost, and clients feel it.
Tip No. 031
The CCE Model: Clarity, Context, Encouragement
You don't need to manage harder, you need to communicate better. A deceptively simple model that changes how teams respond to direction and ownership.
Tip No. 030
Get Ready for 2026: Depth Over Output
A recap from a roundtable with Carey Evans on what clients are really thinking, and what agencies need to prioritise to head into 2026 in strong shape.
Tip No. 029
Getting in Shape for 2026
A lot of agency leaders are quietly asking the same question right now, are we actually in the shape we need to be for what's coming?
Tip No. 028
Remove Client Service, Remove the Heartbeat
Some agencies are quietly downgrading client service, swapping it for project management or strategy. It's a mistake.
Tip No. 027
How You Offboard Says Everything
The way you end a client relationship matters as much as the way you start it. Leaving well is part of the job.
Tip No. 026
Partnership Is a Two-Way Street
We talk a lot about what agencies owe their clients. But great partnerships need clients to show up too.
Tip No. 025
CS vs Strategy, Or CS × Strategy?
When Client Services and Strategy work in silos, the work suffers. The best agencies treat them as one.
Tip No. 024
Training Your Growth Engine
Your account team is your agency's growth engine. If they're not continually learning, it shows, first in the client experience, then in your retention.
Tip No. 023
Are Awards Worth the Effort?
Approached strategically, awards do more than fill a shelf, they elevate your clients, your credibility, and your visibility.
Tip No. 022
ADPs That Actually Drive Growth
Account Development Plans only work if you use them intentionally, here are five ways to make yours earn their keep.