How many new clients do you actually need?

Creative business owners often ask us to help find new clients but here’s the question they rarely consider: how many clients do you actually need?

Before chasing leads, analyse what you already have. The answer might surprise you.
Here’s how we do it…

What we know

We know the average cost to run a small to mid-sized agency in Australia is substantial.

We know staff salaries typically consume 60–70% of expenses. On top of that there’s software subscriptions, power/utility, rent, and overheads. All that means a five-person studio might face monthly running costs exceeding $60,000.

And we also know a profitable five-person agency should bill $1.1m annually with a 25% profit margin. That’s your revenue target.

With that in mind, the first step, before hunting new clients, is to audit your existing base.
Which clients are profitable?
Which projects drain time without adding margin?
Where’s your sweet spot for on-time, on-budget, profitable delivery.

The productivity opportunity

Here’s what most agencies miss: analysing staff productivity reveals real growth potential.

Low productivity isn’t about lazy designers. It happens when there’s insufficient work, misaligned skills and tasks, or when team members are struggling with projects outside their expertise.

If designers are operating below optimal productivity, you have three options:

1. find more suitable work that matches existing skills
2. invest in training to bridge skill gaps,
3. acquire new business that aligns with current capabilities.

This analysis makes new business efforts focused rather than desperate.

The strategic shift

Growth isn’t just about winning more clients. Growth is about winning the right clients to maximise existing capacity, improve profitability, and ensure staff deliver their highest value work.

The agencies thriving aren’t necessarily those with the most clients. They’re the ones with the right clients, working at optimal capacity, delivering maximum impact

So what?

Strategic business development starts from within.

Understand your costs.
Analyse your clients.
Identify your capacity gaps before looking outward.

You might discover you only need two new clients to fill a skillset gap. Or one large client in an industry you used to work in but abandoned. The answer isn’t always “more clients”, sometimes it’s “different clients” or “better-matched work.”

This is the first in a series about new business development. In the future we’ll talk client mix and why having the right balance matters more than total client numbers.

Want to continue the discussion? Email Greg.

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Greg Branson

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About Greg Branson

Greg’s passion is the research and development of methods that improve design management and the role of design in business.

His longevity is in his ability to change and adapt. Greg’s career as a traditionally-trained photographer; became an academic, teaching photography to design students; co-founded and ran Mackay Branson design (for over 25 years) until, recognising an area that he loved – design management – was not an area traditionally covered in design education, he founded Design Business Council. Since then he has worked alongside hundreds and Australian creatives helping them manage their business better.

Greg has sat on the AGDA Victoria and National councils, on a number of University and TAFE Advisory Boards and helped rewrite the VCE Visual Communication curriculum.

Outside of DBC, he is a passionate analogue photographer who spends an inordinate amount of time in his darkroom. You can follow his work on instagram @gregurbanfilm

Always happy to chat, he can be contacted here.