Revenue is up.
So why is cash always tight?
Marketing agencies grow fast but bleed margin through scope creep, underpriced retainers, and invisible delivery costs. We install a financial operating system that turns creative output into predictable profit.
Book Your Scale-Ready Assessment
Free diagnostic for marketing agencies doing $1M–$20M in revenue.
Agency Metrics Dashboard Last 12mo CLIENT LTV $144K avg Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 ROAS 4.2x AVG RETAINER $12K /mo UTILIZATION 74% SCOPE CREEP 23% ! 3 retainers below 30% margin target
Revenue vs Delivery CostLast 12 months
Revenue Delivery Cost
JanMarMayJulSepNov
Revenue growth+54%
Delivery cost+71%
Margin gap−17pts
The Problem
Bennett Financials
Build the financial clarity to scale with confidence.
Free Scale-Ready Assessment — see how your business scores on the 60/15/15 standard.Book yours →
Marketing Agencies
Revenue keeps climbing.
So why is margin shrinking?
You’re winning pitches, hiring talent, and growing revenue — but your bank account tells a different story. Retainers get scoped at one price and delivered at another. Project margins evaporate by the time the work ships. You don’t know which clients actually make money and which ones quietly cost you. Your team is busy, but utilization data doesn’t exist. And by the time your accountant sends the numbers, the quarter is already over. That’s not a growth problem — it’s the same visibility problem we fix in every service business.
The 60/15/15 Standard
We diagnose in order. COGS, S&M, then G&A.
60% gross margin. 15% sales & marketing. 15% overhead. That leaves 30% operating profit. Here’s how we get your agency there.
Client Profitability
Retainer A
52%
Project B
38%
Retainer C
14%
Below 30% target3 of 11 clients
Step 1 — COGS
Creative & media costs: know your true delivery cost.
In agencies, COGS is creative labor, freelancers, media spend pass-through, and production costs. Before we touch anything else, we reconcile what every client and project actually costs to deliver — so every downstream margin number is real.
Gross margin by client and engagement type
Scope creep tracking on retainer accounts
Project profitability at completion vs. estimate
Team Utilization
Creative Team68%
Strategy Team74%
Production Team81%
Utilization gap**$142K/yr**
Step 2 — S&M
New business cost: know what it takes to win.
Target: 15% of revenue on new business development. Most agencies spend far more because pitch costs, business development headcount, and proposal time are never tracked. We break down your cost to acquire by channel and client type — so you stop chasing work that doesn’t pay back.
Billable vs. non-billable hours by role
Fully-loaded cost per team member
Capacity planning for new business
Pricing Analysis
Avg retainer margin34%
Avg project margin41%
Blended target50%
Pricing gap**$186K/yr**
Step 3 — G&A
Agency overhead: pricing & packaging that protects margin.
Target: 15% of revenue on G&A. Agency overhead is typically office space, tools, insurance, and back-office headcount nobody audits. We model the margin impact of every scope decision and price retainers against real delivery cost — so you stop undercharging for the work you do.
Retainer pricing tied to actual delivery cost
Project estimate vs. actual analysis
Rate card optimization by service line
Tax Strategy
S-Corp optimized
Owner comp benchmarked
Q4 projections filed
Estimated savings**$72K/yr**
Deployed Alongside
Tax & entity strategy for agency owners.
Agency owners have unique tax opportunities. We find them. From S-Corp elections to R&D credits for proprietary tools, we turn improved unit economics into real after‑tax wealth through entity structure and tax strategy.
S-Corp election for owner compensation
R&D credits for proprietary tool development
Quarterly projections to eliminate year-end surprises
Case Studies
Don’t just take our word for it.
Eden Data
“We grew from zero to $300K MRR with Arron’s leadership.”
Taylor Hersom Chairman, Eden Data
VirtualCounsel
“A team we can rely on, with rapid-fire responses and consistent support.”
Daniel Goodrich CEO & Founder, VirtualCounsel
RHFL
“He brings creative ideas and valuable insights that have transformed our business.”
Daniel Passarelli Co-Founder, RHFL
NuSpine
“Strategic finance helped us scale, exit, and reinvest with confidence.”
NuSpine Chiropractic Healthcare & Franchise
Veterans Fleet
“Bennett Financials gave us the financial clarity we needed to grow.”
Veterans Fleet Management Fleet Services
Chimney Scientists
“A complete tax transformation that changed how we run our business.”
Chimney Scientist Home Services
Optmyzr
“Saved $185K+ in taxes while scaling global operations.”
Optmyzr SaaS & Ad Tech
Motiv Marketing
“Eliminated $402K in tax liability — and got a refund.”
Motiv Marketing Marketing Agency
How It Works
From first call to deployed system.
1
30-Minute Assessment Call
We discuss your current state, your goals, and whether we’re the right fit. No pitch deck — just an honest conversation.
2
Scale-Ready Assessment
We stress-test your books, margins, cash position, tax strategy, and operational dependency. You get a Scale-Ready Report with green/yellow/red scoring and the top blockers prioritized.
3
System Installation
Full financial operating system: clean books, engineered margins, deployed tax strategy, live dashboard, and monthly CFO cadence. Typical deployment: 90 days.
Results
The system works. Here’s what it looks like.
90 days
Time to full financial system deployment.
$402K
Tax liability eliminated through entity restructuring and strategic planning.
$96.2M
Revenue under management.
Sound Familiar?
Three signals your agency has a margin problem.
If any of these hit home, the 60/15/15 diagnostic will show you exactly where the leak is and how to fix it.
Revenue is up 40% but your bank balance looks the same as last year.
You added three clients and two team members. Revenue jumped but cash didn’t follow. Retainers are being delivered at a higher cost than they were scoped, and nobody tracks the gap until it’s already gone.
You can’t tell which clients make money and which ones quietly cost you.
Your biggest client feels profitable because they pay a $15K retainer. But between scope creep, senior time, and unbilled revisions, actual margin is 14%. Without client-level profitability data, you’re optimizing for revenue instead of profit.
Your accountant gives you numbers 45 days late — too late to act on them.
By the time you see last quarter’s financials, the decisions have already been made. You need real-time visibility into delivery cost, utilization, and margin — not a backward-looking report that confirms what you already suspected.
Free for marketing agencies doing $1M–$20M in revenue.
Get Started
Stop making decisions on gut feel.
The Scale-Ready Assessment shows you exactly where your agency stands — profitability scorecard, tax strategy overview, and a clear picture of what to fix first.
Book Your Scale-Ready Assessment
Free for marketing agencies doing $1M–$20M in revenue.
Ready when you are
Get clear on the next financial move for your business.
Book a no-pressure conversation with the Bennett Financials team.