Regional Agency Benchmarking with Rory Spence

In this episode of the podcast we are exploring the differences between rural and city-based agencies as well as regional differences generally across the UK. We dig into the WOW Company’s new regional Bench Press Reports with Rory Spence.

Time Stamp

[01:06] The advantages and disadvantages of city v rural agency and differences regionally

[02:01] The value of 3rd party market research data (i.e. The Bench Press Reports)

[03:09] Interesting findings from the regional research especially the pricing league table

[03:53] The UK average hourly rate for agencies is £91 but how does it differ in different regions? Some surprising results!

[05:15] Gross Profit Margin analysis by region - again more surprising results

[07:44] Do you think the regional differences are caused because of mindset?

[09:02] Everyone can now compete with London Agencies!

[10:22] What are agencies planning to do with their offices in 2022?

[12:02] Lead with value to be able to charge higher fees (and compete with London agency pricing)

[14:11] Are agencies planning to recruit remotely?

[16:08] 83% want to keep their office yet 78% will recruit remotely!

[18:04] How do you embed culture with remote workforces?

[22:36] Rory shares his views on using freelance staff v in-house employees

[23:43] The impact of IR35

[25:15] External support to hiring people on your team

[27:49] What advice would you give yourself, just starting out in the agency world?

Quotations

• “The average GP Margin for a UK agency is 44%” - Rory Spence, The WOW Company
• “It doesn't matter where you are based anymore. Everyone is working remotely serving clients all over the world.” - Rob Da Costa
• “73% of agencies are planning to keep an office” - Rory Spence, The WOW Company

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Useful links mentioned in this episode:

• Listen to Rory’s take on pricing in episode 102
• Take part in the 2022 BenchPress survey: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/QW58SHV
• Download all of the previous BenchPress reports: http://wowco.uk/benchpress2021