Points of Interest

1:02 – 1:38 – Intro: Marcel introduces the session as a condensed version of his All-in Agency Summit talk, aimed at equipping agencies with the key levers to diagnose and improve profitability.
3:05 – 3:18 – 80/20 Profitability Focus: The goal is to give agencies 20% of the knowledge that provides 80% of the insight needed to take control of profitability, regardless of market conditions.
4:28 – 6:27 – The Growth Trap Cycle: Agencies often get stuck in a cycle of hiring during growth, losing profitability, scaling again, and repeatedly encountering the same financial challenges at larger scales.
6:42 – 7:01 – Identifying the Real Problem: Founders are urged to identify whether their agency's issue is inefficient delivery (indigestion) or lack of revenue (starvation) to avoid insolvency.
9:01 – 10:06 – Financial Metrics Foundation: Understanding core financial metrics—especially agency gross income (AGI)—is essential to making better business decisions beyond tax reporting.
14:24 – 18:05 – Delivery Margin as the Core Metric: Agencies should aim for delivery costs to stay under 50% of AGI, enabling better spending on overhead and stronger profitability.
21:44 – 26:44 – Lever 1: Average Cost Per Hour: Lowering the average cost of labor through delegation and improved processes helps reduce delivery costs and increase profitability.
28:03 – 31:55 – Lever 2: Average Billable Rate (ABR): Maximizing revenue per hour of delivery time, regardless of billing model, improves margins—either by pricing higher or working more efficiently.
34:17 – 38:24 – Lever 3: Utilization Rate: Utilization measures how much team capacity is spent on client work; improving it by selling more work or adjusting staff size directly affects profitability.
42:01 – 44:45 – Utilization Benchmarks: Weekly and annual utilization targets vary by role; producers should aim for 75%+ weekly, and teams should average 50–65% annually including all roles.
45:27 – 49:26 – Impact of Levers on Profit: A case study illustrates how modest gains in utilization and ABR can shift profit margins from 10% to 40%, increasing valuation by up to 500% without hiring or cutting overhead.

Show Notes

Love the Podcast

Leave us a review here.

The Three Immutable Laws of Profitability, With Marcel Petitpas

The Agency Profit Podcast