Guides · Published by Tim Kilroy
Guides to growing a marketing agency
These guides are published by Tim Kilroy for owners of established small marketing and PR agencies. Each one covers a part of growing an agency that does not depend on referrals.
Last updated · Published by Tim Kilroy
Where should I start if I want to grow my marketing agency?
Start by finding the real constraint. For most established agencies Tim Kilroy works with, it is a growth engine built on referrals, with no defined positioning, no demand system and a sales process that lives in the founder's head. The guide to growing beyond referrals walks through each piece in order.
All guides
- How to grow an agency beyond referralsWhy referrals stall, and the positioning, demand and sales systems that replace luck.Read the guide
- Marketing agency growth statistics, 2026Agency counts, growth rates, pipeline health and coaching market size, each with its source.Read the guide
- Agency pipeline math calculatorTurn a quarterly revenue goal into the number of conversations you need each week.Read the guide
About these guides
Each guide is published by Tim Kilroy, who coaches and consults for agency owners and sells those services. They draw on his published playbooks and on industry research with sources linked. For the full service overview, read about marketing agency coaching, or see the methodology.
Common questions
- My agency runs on referrals. Is that a problem?
- Only when you need growth on demand. Referrals reflect past work and relationships, so you cannot turn them up when revenue dips. The RSW/US 2025 Agency Survey, cited on timkilroy.com, found 75% of agencies name referrals as their top new-business source, and 93% say their growth engine is not strong enough. Coaching adds a system alongside referrals.
- What is the owner-operator trap?
- The owner-operator trap is when the founder does sales, delivery, strategy and operations, maxes out personally and revenue plateaus. Tim Kilroy’s three ways out are a defined ideal client, scalable lead generation and the right offer for that client, meaning the right service and pricing model. Referrals alone cannot break the trap because they do not scale on demand.
- How many sales conversations do I need each week?
- Use pipeline math. Divide your quarterly revenue goal by average deal size to get deals needed, divide by your close rate to get proposals, divide by your proposal rate to get conversations, then divide by 13 weeks. Tim Kilroy teaches this formula, and the pipeline math calculator on this site runs it with your own numbers.
- Why do we keep losing deals on price?
- Usually because the agency sells effort while the buyer pays for an outcome. When a prospect cannot see the specific change you create, the rate is the only thing left to compare. Tim Kilroy’s fix is to shift the conversation to the outcome, raise the floor on who you take and walk away from deals that anchor you low.
- How do I stop agency cash flow swings?
- Collect before you deliver. Tim Kilroy’s cash flow playbook recommends invoicing retainers for next month on the 15th to 20th or charging ACH on day one, billing projects on calendar-date milestones such as 50/30/20 and selling prepaid sprints paid 100% upfront. Prepayments sit in a deferred-revenue account and are recognized as work is completed.
Rather talk it through?
Contact Tim Kilroy to find out what to fix first in your agency.