How to Increase Profitability By Charging What You're Worth

<p>Do you know the value you provide to your agency clients? Is your agency getting paid what you're worth? Do you always ask for the budget before presenting a proposal? Stephen Brown used to think that just doing good work would get clients to pay the right value, but his position at <a href="http://cookerly.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cookerly PR</a>, a public relations agency based in Atlanta, helped him understand a lot about charging what you're worth and how to ask the hard questions to determine if you are budgeting the right way. Today he sat down with Jason to discuss how to charge what you're worth by understanding the value your agency provides, how to get your first big clients, how being rich in process will help you keep your deliverables consistent, and much more.</p> <h2><strong>3 Golden Nuggets</strong></h2> <ol> <li><strong>Charging what you're worth.</strong> Stephen used to think that just doing good work will get clients to pay what he’s worth, but eventually he learned that he needed to have <a href= "https://jasonswenk.com/clients-value-results/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a sense of that worth</a> first. You should always have a pulse on your industry and an estimate of what others in your sector are charging. Also, one of the most important things he learned with experience is that you should always ask for a budget or at least a minimum amount of what the client is expecting to spend. In Jason’s experience, less than half of agency owners do this.</li> <li><strong>Getting the bigger clients.</strong> A lot of small agency owners want to know how they can get their <a href= "https://jasonswenk.com/retain-big-agency-clients/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">first big client</a>. It depends. Some of our guests did so through connections in the business, others target a couple until they get a big brand. Stephen believes that doing great and consistent work will lead you to the bigger brands you want to be working with. “Start small,” he advises,  “and it will start laddering up