Episode 105: Enabling Growth Through Collaboration with Chris Bantock
In Episode 105 of The Business Habitat podcast, Sam is joined from the UK by marketing expert and Founder of Agency Local, Chris Bantock, to talk about the power of collaboration and knowledge sharing by peers and industry colleagues.
With a background in corporate sales and marketing in the technology sector, Chris initially set out to build a business in response to client demand for website design and support. He later collaborated with partners with complementary skillsets, resulting in the formulation of a full-service marketing agency. Fast forward twelve years to 2018 and Chris and his partners sold out of the company, leaving Chris free to pursue an opportunity to mentor and coach other agency owners in their quest to build and scale their businesses.
In this conversation, Sam and Chris explore the expert deficit in the creative industries, discussing the gap between industry training and the need for business focused education. Chris believes that by bringing together like-minded agency owners in a social, non-competitive environment, the skills gap can be mitigated through shared learning and experience.
Chris founded Agency Local to provide a forum for creative and marketing agencies across the Thames Valley outside of London. With a focus on business growth and development, members come together to collaborate and find new business opportunities, and also to find support and a sense of community. Through this conversation, Sam and Chris consider how this same model could apply to other industries and professional business owners, many of whom are less conditioned to collaboration than their creative counterparts.
This discussion brings a wider perspective to the notion of networking for the sake of landing the next sale. With an emphasis on community and social engagement, Chris’s business model is a roadmap for more humanistic collaboration and his conversation with Sam is sure to inspire.
Listen to an excerpt
What we cover in this episode
Chris’s background in scaling and selling a full service marketing agency
Guiding agency owners on their journey
The value in agency support groups
Bringing agencies together for collaboration
The skills gap between being a craftsperson and a business leader
Chris’s best acronyms – including FOALs and GAS
The power of local
Building stronger relationships with existing clients
Quotes
“There wasn’t a community for this audience. There wasn’t a way for people to meet and get to know each other. Yes, people would meet at networking events but as you and I know, when people go to networking they’re in transaction mode, they’re in sales mode, they’re not interested in talking to somebody else who’s from their industry, they’re looking for that next sale.“ - Chris
“The agency world is probably one of the most collaborative sectors I’ve ever worked for. So there is that mindset already there, which really helps and collaboration is a big part of what we do but we don’t really do anything to make it happen. We just create the environment and the surroundings that enables people to get to know each other, to get to understand where the opportunities are, to explore and to talk.“ - Chris
“I wanted to provide an environment that helped them, that enabled them to get that support, not directly from me, but from their peers, but also, to help them to learn and to grow, as individuals and also to grow their business. “ - Chris
“The problem that I and Agency Local are trying to solve is the fact that the vast majority, say 90% odd plus, start out their agency life ‘cos they’ve got a training or a passion in something…but somewhere along that journey they wake up one morning and they go ‘oh my god, I’ve got a business’…and that thought is quickly followed by ‘I’ve never been trained in running a business’ “ - Chris
“It’s ideal for an accountant, because the accountant’s client base tends to be varied in terms of what they do, so building a community out of your clients, providing people with value, with information, with education, with insight, as a group, can be hugely powerful.“ - Chris
Links
Connect with Chris on LinkedIn