Key Metrics for Agencies: What to Track for Better Decisions | EP 11
Release Date: 09/26/2025
Turning Every New Client Opportunity Into an Agency’s Compounding Asset | EP25
The AgencyHabits Podcast
Most agencies treat client work as a series of one-off transactions. But the most successful firms treat every engagement as an investment that compounds over time. In this episode, hosts Peter Kang and Sei Wook Kim introduce the concept of engagement yield: the tangible and intangible value that extends far beyond the invoice. They break down the four components of engagement yield; proof, leverage, relationships, and referrals. And explains how agencies can systematically capture this value. Peter and Sei Wook share practical strategies for turning client work into lasting assets: from...
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Why Peter Wrote a Book on Holding Companies | EP24
The AgencyHabits Podcast
In this special episode, host Sei-Wook Kim interviews Barrel Holdings co-founder Peter Kang about his new book, The HoldCo Guide: How Entrepreneurs Structure and Build a Holding Company That Lasts. Peter shares the organic journey that led him to write the book, from scaling a single agency to building a multi-agency holding company, and why no existing resource fully addressed the topic. He breaks down the core concepts every entrepreneur should understand: the spectrum between capital allocator and operational HoldCos, the critical balance of centralization vs. decentralization, and the...
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Breaking Down Agency Employee Compensation | EP23
The AgencyHabits Podcast
Compensation is more than just a number. It’s a strategic tool for attracting, retaining, and motivating talent. In this episode, hosts Peter Kang and Sei-Wook Kim unpack the full spectrum of employee compensation in an agency setting. They start by acknowledging that while pay is crucial, it’s not the only factor. Culture, management, challenging work, and company trajectory all play vital roles. From there, they dive into the core components: base salary (and how to set competitive, geographically-aware bands), benefits (health insurance, 401k, PTO, and creative perks), and both short-...
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Annual Checkup: 9 Markers to Diagnose Your Agency’s Health | EP22
The AgencyHabits Podcast
Most agencies only seek help when something is broken. But by then, the problems are often systemic. In this episode, hosts Peter Kang and Sei-Wook Kim shift the conversation from reactive fixes to proactive health. They introduce a holistic “annual checkup” framework, mapping nine critical agency functions to body parts and their vital signs: from positioning (vision) and client trust (heart rate) to revenue stability (blood pressure) and risk resilience (immune system). Drawing from their experience building and scaling Barrel, Peter and Sei-Wook explain how to spot early warning signals...
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Evolving from Managing Projects to Growing Accounts | EP21
The AgencyHabits Podcast
Growing from single-project engagements to managing multiple, concurrent work streams is a major turning point for any agency. In this episode, hosts Peter Kang and Sei-Wook Kim unpack the structural shift required to turn this complexity into a sustainable competitive advantage. Drawing from their own hard-earned lessons at Barrel, they dissect the common pitfalls like team silos, client misalignment, and leader burnout, that can derail multi-faceted accounts. Peter and Sei-Wook break down the three critical roles needed for success: Account Leadership for strategy and relationships, Program...
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How Agencies Should Think About and Manage Risk | EP 20
The AgencyHabits Podcast
In this episode, Peter Kang and Sei-Wook Kim break down how agency owners should think about risk, not as isolated problems to react to, but as ongoing exposure that needs to be actively managed. Using a simple risk matrix, they explain how to prioritize risks based on likelihood and impact, and why high-impact risks deserve disproportionate attention. They then walk through nine of the most consequential risks agencies face, from founder burnout and partner misalignment to legal exposure, cash flow insolvency, client concentration, and strategic drift. For each, they share practical ways to...
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Learning From Other Agency Owners | EP19
The AgencyHabits Podcast
Great agencies are not built in isolation. In this episode, Peter Kang and Sei-Wook Kim explore the transformative power of community and peer learning for agency founders. The hosts share their personal journey from working in a silo to actively seeking mentorship and joining dedicated communities, revealing how these connections helped them avoid blind spots, gain crucial perspective, and accelerate their growth. Peter and Sei-Wook break down specific communities that have been instrumental to their journey, including Bureau of Digital, Society of Digital Agencies (SoDA), and Collective 54....
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Why Agencies Rely on Referrals But Few Treat It as a System | EP18
The AgencyHabits Podcast
Most agencies say they rely on referrals, but few treat them as a system. In this episode, Peter Kang and Sei-Wook Kim dismantle the "hope-based" approach to referrals and lay out a strategic framework for building a consistent pipeline. Drawing from the book The Referral Code, they redefine referrals as a transfer of goodwill and share actionable tactics for intentional referral generation. Peter and Sei-Wook cover how to identify the right people to ask, the critical importance of timing your ask within a "state of appreciation," and how to craft effective, open-ended questions. They also...
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The Six Levers of Profitable Client Engagements | EP17
The AgencyHabits Podcast
Profitability is the lifeblood of any agency, yet it can feel elusive. In this episode, Peter Kang and Sei-Wook Kim move beyond surface-level tips to reveal the six fundamental levers that directly impact the bottom line of every project, retainer, and service program. They break down how pricing, staffing, engagement design, scope management, reusable IP, and automation all interlock to create or erode healthy gross margins. Drawing from their experience across the Barrel Holdings portfolio, Peter and Sei-Wook share candid examples of where profitability leaks and provide a practical...
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Scaling Your Agency Beyond $2M | EP 16
The AgencyHabits Podcast
In this episode, Peter Kang and Sei-Wook Kim dissect why agencies hit the $2M and what you can do to break through. They explain how founder-centric systems that work at a smaller scale become the primary constraint to growth, leading to breakdowns in client delivery, team management, and financial visibility. The hosts share actionable solutions, from improving onboarding and implementing debrief processes to strategically hiring for your weaknesses and deepening financial rigor. They also introduce the Agency Systems Playbook, a framework of five core systems that drive a scalable agency....
info_outlineIn this episode, hosts Peter Kang and Sei-Wook Kim cut through the noise of data overload to share the essential metrics every agency should track. Moving beyond fancy dashboards, they break down the handful of key performance indicators (KPIs) that truly drive informed decision-making at their portfolio agencies under Barrel Holdings.
Peter and Sei-Wook explain the critical difference between lag measures (reporting on the past) and lead measures (predicting the future), providing a clear framework for both. They dive deep into core financial metrics like revenue mix, gross margin, and EBITDA, and operational essentials like utilization and pipeline health. They also share practical advice on avoiding common pitfalls, like making hasty decisions based on unverified forecast data or tracking too many meaningless numbers.
Whether you're drowning in spreadsheets or flying blind, this episode offers a pragmatic, battle-tested approach to measuring what matters, so you can focus on growing a healthier, more profitable agency.
Key Moments
1. Why less is more: The danger of tracking everything and the power of a simplified dashboard.
2. Lag vs. Lead: Understanding the difference between historical reports and future forecasts.
3. Revenue 101: Why breaking down revenue into recurring vs. project and new vs. existing clients is crucial.
4. Gross Margin as a health check: What it says about your pricing and operational efficiency.
5. The story behind EBITDA: How to interpret SG&A costs and strategic investments.
6. Utilization deep dive: Why targets vary by role and how to forecast future capacity.
7. The art of the pipeline: Tracking leads, proposals, win rates, and converting it into a weighted revenue forecast.
8. Secondary metrics worth a glance: Accounts receivable aging, client concentration, and net revenue retention.
9. The human side: Why employee satisfaction and retention are leading indicators of business health.
10. The litmus test: How to know if a metric is worth tracking or just becoming "wallpaper."
Real Talk Takeaways
1. Data is a signal, not gospel. Never make a major decision based on a number without understanding the story behind it.
2. A signed contract doesn't equal instant revenue. A weighted pipeline that maps revenue to future months is essential for cash flow planning.
3. Utilization targets are not one-size-fits-all. They depend on role, seniority, and your agency's billing rates.
4. Profitability is a multi-layered game. You need to understand it at the project, client, and overall agency level.
5. The most important metric is the one you act on. If you're not having conversations or making decisions based on a KPI, stop tracking it.
6. Don't let perfect data paralyze you. A directional understanding of your forecast is better than no forecast at all.
7. Metrics should inform judgment, not replace it. Leadership is about interpreting the data and making the call.
Timestamps
00:00 – Intro: Cutting through the noise of agency metrics
00:15 – The "less is more" philosophy for agency dashboards
01:05 – Lag vs. Lead Measures: Defining historical and predictive metrics
01:20 – Lag Measure #1: Revenue (Recurring vs. Project, New vs. Existing)
02:07 – Why the recurring revenue mix is a key stability indicator
02:20 – Lag Measure #2: Gross Margin (Pricing & Operational Efficiency)
03:24 – Lag Measure #3: EBITDA (Understanding SG&A and strategic investments)
04:17 – Lag Measure #4: Utilization (Targets by role and discipline)
05:47 – What is a "good" utilization rate? (Spoiler: It depends)
06:03 – Shifting to Lead Measures: Forecasting the future
06:11 – Lead Measure #1: Forecasted Utilization (Avoiding capacity cliffs)
07:11 – The critical step: Verifying forecast data with your team before acting
07:46 – Why you must look beyond the next two weeks in your forecast
08:50 – Lead Measure #2: Pipeline (Leads, proposals, win rates, and value)
09:56 – The importance of tracking new work from existing clients
10:35 – How to build a "Weighted Pipeline" to forecast committed revenue
11:56 – The critical difference between bookings and recognized revenue
13:09 – How a signed mega-deal can still leave you in a cash flow drought
13:23 – How pipeline forecasts impact hiring decisions and gross margins
14:10 – Secondary Metrics: The supporting cast of data
14:27 – Accounts Receivable Aging: The cash flow reality check
14:51 – Client Concentration: Measuring your biggest risk
15:13 – Net Revenue Retention: The ultimate test of client growth
16:19 – Why employee satisfaction and retention are business health metrics
17:35 – Project & Client Profitability: Learning from past engagements
18:36 – The final word: If you don't act on it, don't track it
19:02 – The "wallpaper" test for metrics
19:56 – Finding the right cadence for each metric (weekly, monthly, quarterly)
20:15 – Wrap-up: Metrics inform judgment, they don't replace it
Notable Quotes
"It's very easy to go overboard, just start tracking everything you can... there's actually benefit to having less." – Peter Kang on simplifying your dashboard.
"Metrics can be lag measures... reporting on what happened in the past versus lead measures, which you're trying to project the future." – Sei Wook Kim on the two types of data.
"Gross margin... reflects how profitable are the projects that we're running. It speaks to operational efficiency." – Peter Kang on the story behind the number.
"Any of these things... it's making sure the data is correct before making any decisions on it." – Sei Wook Kim on the danger of unverified forecasts.
"A signed contract for a $500k project sounds great, but if it doesn't start for months, you still might be in a drought and be in trouble." – Peter Kang on the difference between bookings and cash flow.
"Metrics are... it shouldn't replace judgment. You have to look at this and decide is it telling you the right thing." – Sei Wook Kim on the role of leadership in interpreting data.
Links & Resources
Peter Kang on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterkang34/
Sei-Wook on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/seiwookkim/
AgencyHabits Website: https://www.agencyhabits.com/
AgencyHabits on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/agencyhabits/
Barrel Holdings Website: https://www.barrel-holdings.com/
Barrel Holdings LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/barrel-holdings/