WHO WE COACH / AGENCIES & CREATIVE
Agencies & Creative
Design studios, digital, PR and production companies — coached by a founder who built one to 22 people and sold it.
THE PROBLEMS WE SEE WEEKLY
- Over-servicing retained clients into a loss, politely
- Feast-and-famine new business because everyone senior is billable
- Day-rates that haven’t moved since two office moves ago
- Founders doing £45-an-hour work between pitches
THE NUMBERS WE WATCH
Utilisation by personEffective rate by clientGross income per headPipeline coverPriya Sethi ran Halfday for nine years and made — then fixed — every mistake on this page. Her coaching starts with the two numbers agencies avoid: utilisation by person and effective rate by client. Both are usually worse than the founder thinks, and both are fixable inside two quarters.
The agency playbook: scope discipline (change requests priced, in writing, every time), a rate card that reflects this year’s payroll, a new-business rhythm that survives busy months, and a delivery lead so the founders can stop being the ceiling.
Typical clients: 5–35 people, £400k–£4m GI. Brightwater Creative moved from 54% to 71% utilisation and put every founder back on founder work — the case study has the numbers.
YOUR COACH
Priya Sethi
“Every agency problem looks like a sales problem and is actually a pricing problem wearing a coat.”
Founded and exited a 22-person Leeds digital agency. Knows exactly what over-servicing does to a P&L — because she did it for six years before fixing it.
EMCC Practitioner · ICF Associate Certified Coach (ACC)
Full profile
FROM THE CLIMB LOGS
Utilisation 54% → 71%, and both founders back on founder work
THE FIRST STEP
Walk the first mile with us. Free.
A 90-minute Survey Session at Blossom Street or on video: your numbers on the table, an honest read of the terrain, and a first route card to keep — whether or not we ever meet again.
NO OBLIGATION · NO FOLLOW-UP PESTERING · EST. 2012