Blog

Notes on building systems for marketing agencies: retention, margins, delivery, and where AI fits.

A client email with no reply is your earliest churn signalA client who goes quiet usually starts with one email that nobody answered. This post shows the daily inbox scan that I built for a local SEO agency. It also shows why a question with no answer counts more than silence.Nov 11, 2026
Agency revenue leakage: active clients that you forgot to billMany agencies do the work for a client and do not send an invoice. This post shows the common causes of agency billing mistakes and the alerts that find them each day. It also gives a spreadsheet check that you can do this week.Nov 11, 2026
Automated client reporting for agencies: monthly reports that pull their own numbersDo monthly client reports take your team two days each month? This post shows the reporting system that I built for a local SEO agency with approximately 85 clients. It pulls the numbers for each client. AI writes the first draft of the summary, and a person edits and approves it.Nov 11, 2026
How to sell a marketing agency: could you give a buyer 12 months of KPIs today?A buyer asks for 12 months of KPIs, margins, and processes. This post shows what buyers ask for, and the owner dashboard that I built for a local SEO agency. It also shows the steps to make a simple data room this week.Nov 11, 2026
Agency client onboarding process: from won deal to kickoff with zero copy-pasteWhen only the owner knows the onboarding steps, each new client goes through a different process. This post shows a system where a won deal creates the client record and a service picker creates the tasks. It also shows what the team still does by hand.Nov 11, 2026
Client logins in Slack are a liability. Here is the fix.Many agencies keep client passwords in notes, spreadsheets and chat threads. This post shows the risk, the logins vault that I built for a local SEO agency, and the offboarding checklist. It also gives steps that you can start this week with a password manager.Nov 11, 2026
One owner, one due date, one proof: the rule that ends late deliverablesDo you find out that work is late when the client tells you? This post describes one rule for agency project management: each deliverable has one owner, one due date, and one proof. It also shows the work queue that I built for a local SEO agency with approximately 85 clients.Nov 11, 2026
LTV:CAC for marketing agencies: how to calculate it by channelMany agency owners do not know which channel brings clients that are worth the cost. This post shows how to calculate LTV:CAC for each acquisition channel, with sample numbers. It also shows the data that your systems must hold.Nov 11, 2026
The first 90 days are where agencies lose clientsAt one local SEO agency, one new client in five paid only once. This post shows why months 2 and 3 have the highest cancellation rate. It also shows what to do in each of the first three months.Nov 11, 2026
AI for marketing agencies: build one system of record before you add more AI toolsAn AI tool sees only the data that you give it. Most agencies keep client data in many separate tools, so each AI tool sees one part of the client. This post shows the order of work that I used for an agency with approximately 85 clients: data first, then rules, then AI.Nov 11, 2026
How to Find the Clients Who Will Cancel Before They Tell YouCancellations are rarely a surprise. This post shows the risk score that I made for a local SEO agency with approximately 85 clients. It shows the 11 signals, the points for each signal, and a spreadsheet version that you can start this week.Nov 11, 2026