Fuel: Escaping the Agency Feast and Famine Cycle
- Claire Hutchings
- Nov 12
- 3 min read
Ask any agency founder about their biggest frustration and many will say the same thing: new business.
One month you’re overloaded with briefs, the next you’re scrambling for work. That constant rollercoaster is exhausting, and it makes long-term growth almost impossible.
At The Agency Adventure, we call this Fuel - it is one of six pillars which forms part of our Your Agency of the Future framework. It’s about how you generate new business consistently, rather than relying on chance.
What we mean by Fuel
Fuel is your marketing and sales engine. It’s the combination of outbound activity, inbound channels, and existing client growth that keeps your pipeline healthy. Importantly, it’s brand-led and value-first, not just reliant on the founder picking up the phone to their existing network and relying solely on referrals.
When your agency’s Fuel is strong, new opportunities don’t arrive in fits and starts. You’re able to forecast with confidence, focus on the right kind of work, and invest in growth knowing the revenue will be there.
Why Fuel matters
Too many agencies mistake busy periods for stability when in reality, they’re just bouncing between spikes and droughts. That constant uncertainty is stressful for teams and founders alike.
One of our clients described it like this:
“We’d land a big project and feel secure, only to face a big pipeline hole a few months later. It was like running on adrenaline the whole time. We didn’t have Fuel, we had luck.”
Agencies that invest in Fuel avoid that rollercoaster. They don’t just win work; they build pipelines. They shift from chasing projects to choosing clients, and from selling time to selling value.
The founder’s challenge
For many founders, Fuel feels uncomfortable because marketing your own agency is harder than marketing a client’s brand. Plus you have resource issues to contend with and need to make sure your best people are billable. Sales can feel unnatural or give you the ‘ick’. And when you’re busy delivering, prospecting falls to the bottom of the list.
But Fuel doesn’t have to mean hard selling. It’s about clarity: knowing your audience, showing up consistently, and building relationships that convert over time. It is about having levers you know you can pull to bring in the right kind of leads when you need them.
As one of our Claire Hutchings, one of our Guides put it:
“Fuel isn’t about chasing every lead. It’s about building a system that brings the right work to you, predictably, sustainably, and in line with your positioning.”
Questions to consider
If you’re wondering whether your agency’s Fuel is fit for purpose, ask yourself:
Do you rely on referrals and repeat business alone?
Do you have a clear process for turning awareness into conversations, and conversations into work?
Could your agency’s new business function still run if you stepped away for a month?
Next steps
Our diagnostic tool helps agency founders assess how strong their Fuel is compared to the other pillars of our Your Agency of the Future framework. You’ll receive a personalised report which highlights where your growth engine is working well and where it needs attention. It includes actionable tips and advice that you can implement straight away.
Get involved
We’re also looking for founders who want to share their experiences of building a new business engine — the wins, the lessons, and the mistakes. If you’d be open to an interview, we’d love to hear from you.
