Today we welcome Adam Duguay from The Coelement, a strategic and creative storytelling partner for purpose-led businesses and organizations. Listen as we dive into what it takes to improve your client experience, growing your business, working in small markets and many more topics.
Timestamps
- 00:00 – Intros
- 03:05 – Defining your value and quantifying assets when starting a service-based business with multiple partners
- 06:28 – Reliance on the strength of relationships you make with clients
- 08:20 – Growing trend of micro-agencies
- 11:27 – Saturated market and competition
- 13:00 – Setting client expectations with budgets
- 13:27 – Paying for expertise is the value
- 14:47 – Working in small markets
- 16:47 – Coelement & Adam’s background in the industry
- 19:20 – How to become a great producer and growing
- 22:00 – Importance of enthusiasm as a producer
- 23:22 -Producer teach leads the video production process
- 24:40 – Know how to work with agencies of all sizes
- 28:34 – Direct-to-client vs Agency work
- 30:32 – How nimble companies can scale up and down
- 33:29 – Building in contingency plans into budgets to avoid surprises
- 35:48 – Differentiating/diversifying as a production company in a competitive market
- 38:30 – Human element
- 39:10 – Focus on the experience, you want your clients to tell those stories
- 41:30 – Treat yourself as a client
- 42:54 – Differentiation through strategic marketing
- 47:11 – Intuition on audience perception
- 50:11 – How to maximize your creativity within constraints
- 52:04 – Guide your client through the process of understanding the limitations of their budget (in a nurturing way)
- 55:00 – How contingency budgets help
- 57:15 – Be transparent with the client on process and budget
- 1:00:46 – How to pitch during the sales process
- 1:04:58 – Be prepared to walk away
- 1:06:40 – “Agreement in principle” – prepare a solution for clients to circulate and discuss internally.
- 1:07:25 – Make sure there is mutual respect
- 1:11:20 – Build sustainability within your company
- 1:13:10 – RFP’s can help fine-tune your sales process
- 1:14:00 – Rejection can allow room for improvement
- 1:15:00 – Time is more important than money
- 1:17:36 – Looping a property into your assets (increasing company value)
- 1:20:04 – Insurance protects your company and employees
- 1:22:23 – How remote working affects your company
- 1:24:06 – Invest in your talent and lay down a path for growth
- 1:26:17 – Challenges of sole owner vs. partners
- 1:29:02 – Outro
