I’m super excited to welcome our guest expert today, Natalie Henley. If this is your first introduction to Natalie — she’s the CEO and Owner of Volume 9 Digital. She’s also a sharp speaker, trainer, and consultant.

But more importantly — Natalie is right in the thick of it.

She’s not just running the agency — she’s leading ops and sitting in the strategic seat with clients. She’s hands-on, gathering insights, solving real business problems, and applying that knowledge every single day.

That’s one of the biggest reasons I wanted to invite her onto the show.

The perspective she brings — from actually doing the work — is powerful.

Natalie shares the story of a custom dashboard they built at Volume 9. Not just some templated reporting tool — but a fully custom platform, designed from the ground up to help clients log in, check results, and truly understand what’s working. We also unpack all the lessons they learned along the way.

We also dig into a pivotal moment back in 2022 — when Natalie and her team made the bold decision to stop being all things to all clients. They simplified, refocused, and doubled down on the problems they solve best.

That clarity helped them build authority in the right niche — and made them a much easier yes for their right-fit prospects.

There’s so much in this episode that you can take and immediately apply — especially if you’ve been feeling stretched too thin.

Natalie’s insights will help you get clear, get focused — and sell more of what you do best.

• How Natalie developed an agency owner’s mindset by “learning how to sell — and how to be valuable” from the beginning
• Why agencies must focus on the shortest path to client results instead of just racking up deliverables
• The candid story behind Volume 9’s $500K dashboard investment
• Why retention isn’t about fancy tech
• The turning point when Volume 9 stopped being everything for everyone — and how they set boundaries for YES and NO

• Website: https://www.v9digital.com/
• LinkedIn Personal: https://www.linkedin.com/in/optimization/
• LinkedIn Business: https://www.linkedin.com/company/volume-9-inc/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/volume_nine/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/volume9inc
• Volume Nine Resources: https://www.v9digital.com/resources/templates/

I am beyond over the moon excited to have our very special guest expert on this episode of Sell With Authority, Laurie Mikes.

Laurie is the Chief Operating Officer of the Second Wind Agency Network, where she oversees daily operations and works closely with Second Wind’s member agencies. That gives her an incredible pulse on the industry — she truly has her finger on the trends, the challenges, and the opportunities agency owners are navigating right now.

I invited Laurie to the show because of her deep expertise around agency finance, growth, and operations. I was especially eager to have this conversation after reading a blog post Laurie wrote entitled, “Transparency Builds Trust with Clients.”

My Predictive team and I feel the same way.

We recommend that our clients build transparency right into their biz dev processes — teaching and sharing generously right from the onset of a new relationship.

When you do that, you remove friction from the sales process — and make it so much easier for your right-fit prospects to say “yes.”

That’s exactly where Laurie and I focus our time and attention in this episode — how you can build deeper trust with your right-fit prospects and clients.

If you take and apply the insights Laurie shares, you and your team will be better equipped to build trust faster — and that, in turn, will help you sell more of what you do.

• Why transparency is the foundation for building authority and winning trust with right-fit clients
• How to openly share your agency’s process so prospects feel less like targets and more like valued partners
• The #1 mistake agencies make trying to protect their “secret sauce” — and what to do instead
• Why difficult, honest conversations actually get you a seat at the table as a strategic partner — not just a vendor
• Real-world examples of onboarding practices that set the stage for long-term client retention and bigger budgets

• Website: https://www.secondwindonline.com/
• LinkedIn Personal: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurie-mikes/
• LinkedIn Business: https://www.linkedin.com/company/second-wind/
• AGENCY WORKFLOW AND EFFICIENCY

I’m excited to welcome our guest expert to the podcast today, Tim Kilroy.

If this is your first time being introduced to Tim — he’s the Founder of Build Your Agency Better, where he helps agencies fix what’s broken and grow the right way. He’s been in the trenches, he’s led from the front — and he knows his stuff when it comes to agency growth.

I invited Tim to join me today because I wanted to dig into his perspectives around agency biz dev — specifically, I recently read one of Tim’s LinkedIn posts and thought, “Yep — this is right on the money.”

The headline of that post? “5 things to fix that will boost your close rate.”

And that’s exactly what we unpack in this episode. Tim and I break down each of the five — piece by piece — so you can take his insights and apply them directly into your sales process.

I’d like you to keep two questions in mind as we go through Tim’s 5 fixes:

First — are you actually doing all five?

If not — you’ve now got a clear set of action steps to put into practice.

Second — if you are doing them — could you be doing them with deeper excellence, more consistency, and greater impact?

If you take the insights and wisdom Tim shares in this episode and actually apply them — you’ll remove friction from your sales process, you’ll create more momentum with prospects — and you’ll make your agency an easier “yes.”

• Why knowing what problem you’re solving, and for who, makes biz dev so much easier
• Why premature pitching shuts down momentum — and how to keep your sales conversations on track
• The “return on understanding” metric that could transform your discovery process
• How to use your right-fit prospect’s language, pain points, and context to position your agency as an easy yes
• Why clarity around next-steps is essential
• The truth about many agency case studies
• Simple but overlooked shifts that can turn your biz dev into a repeatable, reliable system — no matter what the market is doing

• Website: https://timkilroy.com/
• LinkedIn Personal: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timkilroy/
• LinkedIn Business: https://www.linkedin.com/company/agencygrowthcoach/
• Agency Assessment