"Fine" Is a Very Expensive Word

A few years ago, I discovered our company was significantly overpaying a marketing agency for work that wasn't moving the needle.

I want to be clear,  the agency wasn't doing anything wrong. The work was fine. But fine is an expensive word when it packs a premium price tag.

The harder conversation wasn't ending the agency relationship. It was convincing the company’s founder, who valued our relationship with the agency, that the spend wasn’t earning its keep and I could do more with less because I was already inside the business.

I knew our clients. I knew our work. I knew our partners. No agency brief in the world replaces that.

So I made the case. I put together a strategy, walked through the vision, and showed exactly how being embedded in the company gave me an advantage no outside firm could match.

He said yes.

Three years later the numbers speak for themselves.  Email volume up 227%, unique clicks up 262%, and content that our partners actually respond to. Not because of a bigger budget. Because the person telling the story actually knew it.

As a COO I'm always looking at the gap between what something costs and what it's actually worth.

Sometimes the most strategic thing you can do is look inward.

What's a line item in your business that's never been questioned?