PROOF OF RELATIONSHIP RISK
▶ Insights from Dan Hestbaek, Founder of Lift Relations, on spotting churn before it happens
Your team’s view of the client is as important as the client’s view of the team.
Dan stressed that client feedback often lags behind the real health of the relationship. Agencies need to regularly surface how the team feels about a client: Are they energized or drained? Is responsiveness and proactivity dropping off? These internal signals are often the first indicators of strain and they can show up long before any formal escalation or churn.
Engagement trends are more telling than static scores.
He emphasized looking beyond “health scores” or periodic feedback to track how clients behave over time. Are they attending fewer meetings? Not responding to opportunities to engage? Those behavior patterns reveal risk far earlier than traditional satisfaction metrics.
Relational proof should be operationalized.
Too often, what one team member knows about a fraying relationship isn’t shared upward or across the firm. Dan advocates for building systems (even simple ones) that turn relational signals into shared visibility so the agency can act before the relationship deteriorates.
PROOF OF VALUE
▶ Insights from Brian Kessman, Founder of Lodestar Agency Consulting, on productizing your agency’s value (not your services)
If you can’t articulate your value, you can’t defend your price.
Several leaders pointed out that pricing pressure often stems from misalignment between how they define value and how clients hear it. Your pricing must reflect a clearly communicated value narrative that’s rooted in the client’s business outcomes.
New revenue models require a psychological shift—for clients and teams.
Selling strategy or modular products (instead of retainer hours) means changing the language you use and how you frame your work. Brian stressed that this involves teaching clients to understand your new offerings and believe in them.
Clients won’t buy a different model if it still feels like the same service.
A major theme: moving to project-based, tiered, or outcome-tied pricing requires clearer differentiation. Agencies need to productize their IP by turning expertise into defined offerings with names, scope, and repeatability. Otherwise, it feels like a rebranded retainer.
PROOF OF OPERATIONAL LEVERAGE
▶ Insights from Tahnee Perry, Instructor at Section AI, on integrating AI into team workflows so it sticks
Proof beats potential when it comes to AI adoption.
A recurring theme from the session: leaders need evidence that AI works in their environment. Section emphasized starting with a narrowly defined workflow and using a pilot to generate concrete proof points (time saved, quality improved, friction reduced) before scaling.
The right proof starts with the right workflow.
Not all processes are equally “provable.” The strongest pilots focus on workflows that are frequent, visible, and painful enough that improvement is unmistakable. When leaders choose workflows where success is easy to observe, teams can more quickly see if AI is delivering value.
Proof requires measurement.
Section stressed that pilots should be designed with success criteria upfront. What does “better” look like? Faster turnaround, fewer revisions, higher confidence, reduced cognitive load? Without agreed-upon signals of success, AI pilots risk stalling out as experiments rather than credible evidence for change.