Have you noticed that when you try to apply mainstream business advice to your creative agency, it just doesn’t quite work? There’s a good reason for that.
If you’re a creative agency trying to sell your services using sales and marketing strategies designed for B2C or DTC products, you’re going to be pretty disappointed with the results.
Because selling services and doing marketing for a service-based business requires a very different approach than the standard advice, strategies, and tactics that are out there. Strategies and tactics that were designed primarily for selling products rarely translate well to selling services.
So if you want to get more clients, grow your business, and sell more of your services, there are three proven pillars I’m about to share with you. I’ve seen these transform struggling agencies into thriving businesses, and I’m going to walk you through exactly what they mean and how to implement them immediately.
Today we’ll cover:
- Finish Line Language – How to focus on outcomes, not deliverables
- Effective Communication – Why clients actually buy from you
- Building a Sales-First Agency – Creating systematic growth
Let’s dive in.
The Three Pillars of Selling Creative Services
1. Finish Line Language
The biggest difference between selling services and selling products is the fact that services aren’t physical items; they’re intangible, and your clients can’t see them, touch them, hold them, or do anything like that ahead of time before making a purchase.
Sure, you could share historical performance or demonstrate your experience with similar clients, but that’s not the same as being able to pick something up and hold it in your hands before making the decision to buy it. Inherently, the client considers risk. Who is the least risky service provider for the price they’re willing to pay?
This is why one of the biggest mistakes creative or technical agency owners make when describing their services is focusing too much on the service itself and the creative inputs that go along with a project, rather than what is important to the client.
Because the fact is, when it comes to selling and marketing creative services, the single most important thing is the end result. This part’s really important. So let me say it again. The key to selling more services is to focus almost obsessively on the end result and how the client will be better off after you complete their project than they are right now.
There’s a quote in marketing that’s commonly attributed to Theodore Levitt that goes, “People don’t want quarter-inch drill bits. They want quarter-inch holes.” Basically, meaning your clients and customers don’t want the thing you’re selling. They want the benefits of what that thing is going to provide. They want the end result, the outcome.
But we could take this a step further, and we should, because people don’t want quarter-inch holes either. They want to hang a picture, or a shelf, or a guitar, or anything else that people hang on walls.
And this is where finish line language comes in, which is all about highlighting the end state. The end result, the outcome of whatever service you provide. How will they be better, or healthier, or stronger, or wealthier, or whatever?
For example:
- If you’re a web design agency, you’re not just delivering a new website or brand identity. You’re providing a platform that generates leads 24/7 and positions the client as the premium choice in their industry.
- If you’re a marketing agency, you’re not just managing social media accounts or creating content. You’re building a consistent pipeline of qualified prospects that reduces client acquisition costs and creates predictable revenue growth.
I saw this transformation firsthand with my own agency when we completely rewrote the script for selling brands. I am not a designer, I’m a business owner and entrepreneur. The language I use to sell our creative services is centred around business over design. I talked about growth in revenue, the challenges and opportunities my clients faced and how brand can provide true commercial value in the areas they need it.
Consider these two scenarios:
Agency A pitches a branding project by walking through their design process, highlighting colour palettes, font choices, and identities created for various businesses.
Agency B presents a beautiful portfolio but focuses on the commercial benefits of their work for similar clients in the same industry. They discuss increased revenue, improved recruitment and retention, expansion into new markets, and material changes in business direction.
Who do you think would win the business?
With this focus on the results, we became the agency of choice, not because we were any better, though I’ll argue we were, but because we fully understood the true business need and could demonstrate how we would be best positioned to support the client in achieving this.
2. Effective Communication
Many forget that selling creative services is based on relationships. The longer we work with a client, the greater the Lifetime value they’ll bring to the business. It’s our job to focus on keeping the client informed and happy with our service.
Good relationships come down to highly effective communication. They also come down to doing the thing you said you were going to do. But service delivery is for another video.
I have reviewed hundreds of emails, possibly thousands, from my team and other agencies. I’ve listened to calls both inbound and outbound, and by far, the best agencies have clear, simple and effective messaging. They are confident in their service, and everyone across their business knows how to communicate in the company’s way.
It can be as simple as a well-structured sign-off email or as comprehensive as your sales pitch, but your process of selling to and nurturing the client relationship is key.
Remember, the clue is in the name. We’re service businesses, and if our service isn’t perceived at the highest level, we’re at risk of our clients leaving prematurely.
In my agency and within my clients’ businesses, I suggest they audit their entire communication process from top to bottom:
- Consider your sales processes, both inbound and outbound. Does your messaging from your whole team meet your expectations and deliver this effectively?
- Is service delivery focused on retaining and growing the client relationship?
- Do you effectively communicate the results of your creative work?
My rule of thumb is simple: Check one email or sales script each week and provide guidance on how to make this more in line with your expectations. Set templates in your CRM or project management system to ensure this is maintained by everyone in the business.
3. Build a Sales-First Agency
When we became a sales-first agency, our business matured and scaled significantly. To give you an idea, we went from 50k months to 220k months by focusing our efforts.
But what does being sales-first mean? It means having a systematic and efficient approach to sales that allows you to go from nothing to hitting your targets consistently every month.
I had two rules in my business:
- Do great work
- Expect to be paid
But doing great work isn’t enough – you need a robust sales process that starts with understanding exactly what you need to hit.
Here’s what’s worked for me:
First, know your numbers. Whether your target is 10k or 500k, you need to know what you want to achieve, otherwise you’re leaving everything to chance. If you sell 10k brand packages, what does this look like in terms of volume each month? I.e. how many brands or websites do you need to sell to hit your target?
Now, most creative businesses will have a mix of clients, but acknowledging this and planning is the key.
Second, build a multi-channel approach to selling. On any given day, my sales and marketing teams used all of these activities:
- Direct outreach with personalised emails (not mass mailouts)
- Newsletters to our database
- LinkedIn connections and engagement
- Content that demonstrates our expertise
- Strategic partnerships with complementary service providers
- Ads on socials and Google/YouTube
- Events – both attending and hosting
- And the most powerful of all – referrals (I could track three of our biggest clients back to simply asking an influential client to “please tell someone else about our service”)
Third, manage your pipeline religiously. We had a saying: “Just sell more and the rest will take care of itself.” That’s probably not true, but we were always focused on new business opportunities alongside maintaining relationships with our existing clients.
Your sales pipeline is the lifeblood of your business. Set clear activity targets: How many prospects will you research weekly? How many direct contacts will you make? How many meetings will you schedule? How many proposals will you send?
The truth is, sales is a numbers game. The more we engage in good sales practices and the more prospects we reach out to, the better our chances of winning new business.
Action Steps You Can Take Today
Here are three immediate actions you can implement this week to transform your agency’s sales approach:
- Audit Your Service Descriptions – Review all your website copy, proposals, and sales scripts. Highlight every feature you mention and ensure it’s paired with at least two compelling benefits. Rewrite as needed to achieve the correct ratio.
- Create Your Sales Activity Metrics – Establish clear, weekly targets for outreach activities. For example: 10 personalised emails, 5 LinkedIn connection requests, 2 follow-up calls, and 1 proposal. Track these religiously.
- Develop Client Outcome Stories – Document 3-5 case studies that focus exclusively on the business outcomes your clients achieved, not just the deliverables you created. Use these in your sales conversations.
Conclusion
The difference between struggling creative agencies and thriving ones isn’t talent – it’s often just these three pillars of effective selling.
By focusing on finish line language, effective communication, and building a sales-first agency, you’ll position yourself miles ahead of your competition, who are still focused only on their creative process and deliverables.
Remember, clients don’t buy your services – they buy the outcomes those services create. When you align your entire sales approach with this reality, you’ll not only win more business, but you’ll attract clients who value your work at the level it deserves.
What sales strategy will you implement first? Whatever you choose, start today: because the agencies that sell better ultimately have more opportunities to do the creative work they love.
Sales Training Programme For Creative Agencies
If you want to learn more about my process, I’ve launched my Selling Creative Service course to help agency owners and founders scale their business effectively. We cover setting targets, prospecting, the sales pitch, effective communication and getting paid, because that’s what really matters.
Head over to https://courses.moveatpace.com/selling-creative-services and use video50 to get 50% off your investment in your agency growth.