New business is a trap

Winning new business is intoxicating. I know this, it was my job for years. I loved the thrill of winning a new client, knowing what we could do to transform their business and getting stuck in learning how they operate. 

But it’s a trap.

Sort of.

I’m not saying winning new business isn’t important, it is. But it’s often prioritised over building deeper relationships with the clients you already support, and who already trust you. So if you’re doing that well, then you don’t need to put quite as much effort into the harder new business strategy.  

One of the most beautiful aspects of running a smaller lifestyle agency is that you do get to build deeper relationships with your clients; a real human connection. In fact thats what I love even more now that I work one on one with my own clients. In large, global agencies, clients can get lost in the crowd making it difficult to form the same personal connection. 

A large part of Rubber Cheese’s success (my own agency), were the deep relationships we developed. Clients wanted to work with us because of it, leading to repeat business and referrals – exactly why client retention is a solid growth strategy. Your agency doesn’t need a stream of endless new leads if you can maximise the value of your already trusting clients. 

Relationship building

Jo Rogers is the founder of Client Success Matters, where she provides strategic guidance and training designed to help agencies enhance client relationships. 

When Jo joined me on the Lifestyle is a Plan podcast, we spoke at length about the jump agencies need to make from service provider to strategic partner – which happens by shifting focus from day-to-day delivery to the long-term goals of their business. This is one of the most important shifts to make in terms of building deeper relationships.

When Jo and I collaborated on the Agencies versus Attractions Report, we discovered the agencies whose relationships thrived were ones who participated in high-level meetings like quarterly business reviews (QBRs) or annual planning sessions. Those agencies gained a stronger understanding of their clients long term objectives, built deeper relationships and retained clients over a longer period. And as Jo says, part of that success is about becoming the expert who challenges, because true partners are valued for their opinions, not for saying “yes”. 

In fact, according to the IPA and Tracksuit ‘Bridging the gap: Redefining the value of agencies’ report, 83% of clients say “stretch and growth thinking” is extremely or very valuable, but only 48% feel they’re getting it. And when it comes to challenging briefs, the gap widens. 77% want it, only 43% get it. At Rubber Cheese we interrogated briefs, pushing back if client requests didn’t align with their business goals. Sometimes tough – but it built credibility and positioned us as strategic consultants, not order-takers. 

And the stats tell us, it’s what your clients want.

Demonstrating your investment in a client’s profession and personal growth means understanding all their goals. For example, if they want to speak at a conference can you find ways to help them do it? Maybe there’s a podcast they’d be a great guest for – can you make an introduction? 

Our team was also trusted to spot surprise and delight moments to act on. Like the time we learned a client’s marketing team were heading away for a strategy weekend, so we sent a bottle of celebratory fizz for them to take.

Joyful little moments remembered.

Delivering value

The Up to the Light ’What Clients Think 2026 Report’ found that marketing directors spend only 8% of their time with the agencies they work with, so how can you use this limited time to show your value?

Can you dedicate time at the start of every meeting to sharing news about competitors, market trends or industry shifts? This shows you understand their business challenges and opportunities way beyond any immediate project tasks you need to update them on. It’s an agency’s job to see what’s coming before they do.

Insight Banks (the place where you collect insights relevant to your client – articles, reports, even people they should be connected to) can play a key part in this process. At Rubber Cheese one of us was responsible for adding to these weekly. We’d review the Bank prior to each call and always have something interesting to share. And yes, I’ve banged on about them before, but building an Insight Bank for each client you have is a crucial tool – so if you only take one thing from this, it’s to go and start yours today.

I know you really care about your clients, so most of this stuff will hopefully come easy to you, maybe you’re already doing it? If you can build it into your agency process, then I guarantee you’ll retain your clients for longer and need to win less new business.

In summary, Be curious, push back and truly give a shit about the people you support. That’s what builds a great agency / client relationship.