The Revenue Rollercoaster: Why Positioning is Your Agency's Missing Foundation
Why Agency Growth Feels Like a Game You Can't Win
You're juggling pitches, clients, deadlines, and the occasional existential crisis.
And just when it feels like you're getting ahead, boom, revenue takes a nosedive.
Again.
One week, you're closing deals like a champ. The next, you're buried in client deliveries, your pipeline is suddenly emptier than your coffee mug on a Monday morning, and you're wondering if this is just what "running an agency" means forever.
Nope, it's not just you.
It's not your talent, your systems, or your imposter syndrome.
At its core, it's something far more fundamental: weak positioning.
When your agency stands for everything, it ultimately stands for nothing, creating a cascade of operational chaos that sabotages you just when things should be scaling.
We're pulling back the curtain on why your revenue has commitment issues and how solidifying your positioning can finally build a business that grows without needing you to be in every room, on every call, and "doing all the things" every minute of every day.
What Causes the Revenue Rollercoaster?
First, I have to credit Tyler Pigott for the term "Revenue Rollercoaster."
I've been calling it the revenue loop and then watched him present a topic where he dropped this alliterative gold.
S, in true collaborative style, I put him on the spot when I was on stage and got permission to use it.
Thanks, Tyler.
The Revenue Rollercoaster isn't about your work ethic or even your sales skills. It's fundamentally about diluted positioning.
When you haven't defined exactly who you serve, what specific problems you solve, and why you're uniquely qualified to solve them, you create a business built on shifting sand. Here's how poor positioning manifests in your day-to-day reality:
The Symptoms of Positioning Problems
1. Feast-or-Famine Cash Flow
Your bank balance has trust issues.
One month, money's flowing. The next, you're watching invoices like a hawk and debating whether oat milk in the office fridge is truly essential.
Why? Because without clear positioning, you're constantly chasing different types of clients with different needs. You can't build repeatable processes or predictable lead generation because you're reinventing your offer every time.
When you stand for anything, you attract random opportunities rather than consistent, ideal clients.
2. Pipeline Whiplash
Your sales strategy is basically "panic now, pitch later."
When cash gets low, founders suddenly become full-time salespeople again, pitching to anyone with a pulse. But because you lack clear positioning, you waste time with prospects who aren't a good fit, have unrealistic expectations, or won't value your work appropriately.
Clear positioning acts as both a magnet and a filter, attracting the right clients while repelling the wrong ones before they waste your time.
3. Team Burnout and Bottlenecks
Your team is either sprinting to meet deadlines or staring at their Slack channels wondering what happened. There's basically no in-between.
Without positioning, every project feels custom. Team members must constantly switch contexts, learn new industries, and develop solutions from scratch. They can never build expertise in a specific domain or create scalable methodologies because each client is fundamentally different from the last.
This leads to high turnover as your best people burn out from constant adaptation without mastery.
4. Stuck at a Financial Set Point
Your agency keeps hitting the same revenue ceiling because without clear positioning, you can't command premium prices.
When prospects can't immediately understand what makes you different, they default to comparing you on price. You become interchangeable with dozens of other agencies. Even after a record quarter, you find yourself discounting to win the next deal, undoing your progress.
Without positioning, you're forever stuck in the commodity trap. When there are no other options, you command the price. When there are dozens of options, the prospect does.
5. Founder Fatigue
If the founder gets a cold, the agency gets pneumonia.
You're stuck as the lead salesperson, project manager, therapist, and party planner because only you can explain the "special sauce" that makes your agency valuable. Since your positioning exists only in your head, you can't properly delegate or hire specialists who align with your focus.
When you're the engine, the brakes, and the GPS, "scale" becomes a buzzword. And burnout becomes your most reliable KPI.
The Real Solution: Clarify Your Positioning
This isn't about working harder or installing better project management software. It's about fundamentally defining who you are as an agency and who you serve.
Strong positioning answers these questions with absolute clarity:
Who do we serve? (And equally important: who do we NOT serve?)
What specific problem do we solve? (Not "marketing" or "websites" – get specific)
How do we solve it differently or better than alternatives?
What results can clients expect? (With evidence to back it up)
When you nail your positioning, everything else becomes easier.
Your marketing speaks to a specific audience. Your sales process qualifies prospects based on fit. Your team develops expertise in solving particular problems. Your pricing reflects specialized value rather than commoditized hours.
Break the Cycle and Build Momentum
If your agency always resets to zero no matter how hard you push, that's not a hustle problem, it's a positioning problem.
And positioning, unlike temporary motivation or fancy tools, creates sustainable differentiation that clients will pay premium prices for.
Start by ruthlessly analyzing your most profitable and enjoyable client relationships. What industry are they in? What specific problems did you solve? Where did you create the most undeniable value? Then make the hard decision to focus primarily on those situations, even if it means saying "no" to opportunities outside that focus.
The paradox of positioning is that by narrowing who you serve, you actually expand your potential for growth. You become known for something specific rather than forgotten for being general.
Ready to stop grinding and start growing? Join the Dynamic Agency Community to connect with agency owners who've navigated the positioning journey. You'll get access to practical tools, positioning frameworks, and a support system that understands the courage it takes to finally stand for something specific in a world of generalists.
