Grow, Build, Sell, Live

A Practical Guide to Running and Building an Agency and Enjoying It

Richard Houghton|Crispin Manners

Emerald

This book can be opened with

Hardback

9781787568860

30 September 2019

£15.99

eBook (PDF)

9781787568839

30 September 2019

£15.99

eBook (ePub)

9781787568853

30 September 2019

£15.99

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Description
Contents
Reviews
About

Agency leaders spend the majority of their time on three areas – their people, clients and new business. These are all important levers for consultancy growth. But too often, agency owners forget two more essential tools for growth: attention to the numbers, and investment in their leaders.

The consultancy leadership role can seem like an endless stream of fires to put out. It can leave leaders feeling as if their team, or their clients, are running their business rather than themselves. That's where this book comes in.

Grow, Build, Sell, Live features practical and implementable advice and tools to address the day-to-day reality of running a successful agency. In addition to giving guidance on people, clients and new business, the book covers leadership and the numbers in detail to ensure leaders have the tools and knowledge to be in control.

The content draws on proven approaches, helpful science and real-life examples to give practical recommendations to improve readers’ ability to achieve the controlled growth which is essential to agency success.

If you are thinking about starting your own agency; have started one and hit your first round of growing pains, or are a veteran looking for an exit, this book is for you. It will appeal to current and aspiring agency owners who want to understand and be conscious of their choices and take control of their agency.

Chapter 1. Introduction Chapter 2. Purpose Chapter 3. People Chapter 4. Culture Chapter 5. Leadership Chapter 6. Client Handling Chapter 7. Marketing Chapter 8. Innovation Chapter 9. Sales Chapter 10. Commercials Chapter 11. Good Enough to Sell

'Whether you’re an existing or wannabe PR agency boss, stop whatever you are doing and buy this book. It’s so good, I wish I’d written it. With explicit guidelines on how formalising your purpose can revolutionise your culture and cashflow, and a must read section on innovation, it’s the best investment you’ll make this year. Hands off my copy!'
- Sarah Waddington, Founder and Editor of #FuturePRoof and Vice-President of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations

‘Crispin has been helping me develop my agency for the past six years. Thanks to his suggestions I’ve made major changes in financial, HR and client management. This has transformed our profitability and enabled me to develop a sustainable business that is helping me achieve my personal life goals. I recommend Crispin and Richard’s book to anyone intent on building a great agency.’
- Patrik Schober, CEO PRAM Consulting, Prague

‘This guide will not only inspire, but more importantly also focus minds on what really matters at an agency, giving owners renewed vigour to actually get out of bed in the morning. It should help distil disparate ideas into a coherent strategic overview, ensuring companies have a clear purpose to be successful.’
- Henry Griffiths, Partner, Little Red Rooster PR

‘Running an agency has unique challenges, stresses and opportunities for growth. If I’d read this book 15 years ago, I would have made many different decisions, and reached them with more focus and less turmoil. In short, reading this book is one the best investments you can make in yourself, and your business. I've read several books on agency performance in the 30 years I’ve run my firm, and this is possibly the most incisive, and useful.’
- Amy Bermar, President, Corporate Ink, Boston, USA

‘This book is a great resource for PR agency owners – and anyone wishing to build a great agency. I wish I had read it when I founded my agency. Every business leader working in a people-based business should have a look at it, the real-life examples can be helpful in every stage of the agency life-cycle: start-up, growth, sale or succession.’
- Diego Biasi, Founder & CEO, BPRESS, Italy

‘Whether you’re an existing or wannabe PR agency boss, stop whatever you are doing and buy this book. It’s so good, I wish I’d written it. With explicit guidelines on how formalising your purpose can revolutionise your culture and cashflow, and a must-read section on innovation, it’s the best investment you’ll make this year. Hands off my copy!’
- Sarah Waddington, Founder and Editor of #FuturePRoof and Vice-President of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations

Richard Houghton works as a specialist management consultant to agencies in marketing services, focusing on growth. He spent the first 25 years of his career working in public relations consultancies in the UK and Europe, holding senior management and managing director positions in three top ten agencies. He also ran his own technology agency for a decade. During his career he has dealt with a very wide range of management challenges including merging three agencies to create a new firm, divisional and agency turn rounds, and the launch of an agency. A columnist for PR Week, he writes on the business of public relations in the monthly Agency Doctor column. A past president of the International Communications Consultants Organisation, Richard sits on its Board of Management and is a former Chairman and founding Fellow of the PRCA.

Crispin Manners is CEO and Founder of Onva Consulting. He is also Chairman of The Employee Engagement Alliance and a Director of The Employee Engagement Awards. A Founding Fellow and Past Chairman of the Public Relations and Communications Association (PRCA), he was one of the youngest Fellows of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) and is a Fellow of the Institute of Directors. Crispin grew his business from 3 to 66 people. In the process he led the company to be the fastest growing PR company in the UK, the #2 performer over a decade and one of the Top 5 PR firms to work for. It was later ranked Ofex Company of the Year and received the accolade of the UK's Innovative Company of the Year. He now specialises in driving growth through employee engagement and advises a number of PR agencies around the world on how to achieve their potential.