Nick Avaria

CEO of | Agency Founder | Helping 100 Agencies Get To 1M Annual Profit | $10M ARR in 3 Years

[Nick Avaria @Nick_Avaria]

Agency owners doing $1-10M a year:

I see the same 8 mistakes over and over.

Here's what happened when my clients fixed them:

1. Running the agency without the numbers

One client didn't know their LTV or CAC. Once everything was set up: about 15:1.

2. Letting churn bleed out accounts

At 5% a month, you lose 60% of your accounts every year. One client went from about 5% to about 2.25-2.5%.

3. Trying to close every deal that comes through

One client was averaging about $3K a month. They've since closed two at $8,000 and $9,500 a month.

4. Spending too much to make each dollar

One client went from 50-70 cents per $1 to under 25 cents.

5. Skipping the easy wins

At least $10K in extra cash flow within 1-2 months. From one workshop alone, an additional $20K. Then 10K became 20K, and 20K became 40K.

6. Staying stuck in the day-to-day

One owner went from 40+ hours a week to 6-10.

7. Believing the agency can't run without you

One client went from losing about $20K in some months to a little over $2M in profit last fiscal year. Part of that came from stepping away.

8. Figuring it all out alone

One owner lost $13K the month they hired me. We got him to $1M in profit in about 2 years.

As another client put it:

"Bringing someone like you in helped me skip probably years' worth of mistakes."

Watch them tell it in their own words below.

[Nick Avaria @Nick_Avaria]

Agency A:

• Pays sales 100% at signature
• Reps promise whatever closes
• Clients leave early

Agency B:

• Pays 50-60% at close, the rest at month 6
• Reps qualify harder
• Clients stay

Pay people for the outcome you want.

[Nick Avaria @Nick_Avaria]

Clipping a podcast works for some content for your personal brand.

(In fact you're seeing it here).

But it's not enough for agency to rely on.

On this week's episode of the podcast, I sat down with Matthew Hunter, owner of Demandii, who specializes in creating content for CEO's who want to stand out online.

He talks about why you need a personal brand to grow your agency online.

🎙️ Listen in to episode 26 of Scaling with Profit live now wherever you listen to podcasts.

[Nick Avaria @Nick_Avaria]

Figured I'd give my two cents here...

I've audited 76 agencies doing $1M-$10M/yr in the past 9 months, and churn is the #1 thing holding them back.

So here's my honest opinion on turning down clients:

The data first:

• Great churn is under 2% a month
• Anything over 5% is a red flag
• 12% vs 2.5% churn = $1.6M vs $7.7M/year

A lot of people already saw @garyvee on Open Residency this week, saying VaynerMedia turns down clients offering millions when they don't believe the product will sell.

What stood out to me: most owners hear that and assume you need Vayner's size to say no.

In my experience, saying no is how agencies get to that size.

The easiest clients to turn down ask for a guarantee. When I split retention by lead source, they bring the worst LTV (lifetime value) I see.

No agency avoids churn completely.

What I can tell owners is this:

Pick clients you can keep. My oldest client runs at about 1% monthly churn and grew from $250K to nearly $700K a month with “okay” lead gen.

Every time you cut churn in half, your agency doubles.

[Nick Avaria @Nick_Avaria]

3 Keys To Retaining Clients LONGER:

[Nick Avaria @Nick_Avaria]

This is the model I use at every agency I have ever run.

And the one I teach other agency owners to use to manage their team.

It starts with understanding what quadrant your team member are in:

- Micromanage
- Coach
- Support
- Delegate

Once you know where they start, you can learn how to move them up in the quadrant.

Let me know what you think of this model and if it would apply for your agency.

[Nick Avaria @Nick_Avaria]

Deciding what service to add next?

Look at what your best clients do to win, then offer that.

It's the cheapest market research you'll ever get.

[Nick Avaria @Nick_Avaria]

Any questions? Drop them below.

If you run a $1M-$10M agency, follow along. I break down the benchmarks every week.

[Nick Avaria @Nick_Avaria]

I'm 37.

I've scaled 6 agencies past $10M/yr without growing sales or marketing.

Here are 17 sentences that'll put you ahead of 99% of agency owners:

[Nick Avaria @Nick_Avaria]

16. You need to train your team 1 hour a week, forever. Pro athletes train 8-10 hours per hour played.

17. You need to check what you delegate, or delegation turns into abdication.

[Nick Avaria @Nick_Avaria]

If your clients think AI can replace your agency, they may not understand what your agency does.

[Nick Avaria @Nick_Avaria]

Cut monthly churn from 8% to 2% and you've halved it twice.

Every time you cut churn in half, your agency 2x.

With the same sales team and the same prices, that's an agency 4x the size.

[Nick Avaria @Nick_Avaria]

Most owners will start 2027 buying more leads.

The order that scales:

1. Cut churn
2. Raise price
3. Then spend on sales and marketing

Sales forgives all sins. Until it doesn't.

If you run a $1M-$10M agency, follow along. I break down the benchmarks every week.

[Nick Avaria @Nick_Avaria]

How to scale a $1M/mo agency in 2022:

• Sign every client
• Offer a guarantee
• Add more services
• Work longer hours

How to scale a $1M/mo agency in 2027:

[Nick Avaria @Nick_Avaria]

Why your team feels maxed out:

People don't feel "not busy" until they drop to about 40% capacity. Someone at 50% will tell you they're too busy.

Company-wide, healthy billable utilization is 70-75%.

Find the empty hours before you add longer ones.