If there’s one thing I’ve learned after working with hundreds of agencies, it’s this.
Great media buying will get you in the door.
Deep business understanding is what keeps you there.
As we kick off 2026, this matters more than ever, especially for niche agencies.
Let’s use plumbing as an example.
If you say you specialize in plumbing clients, you should not just know keywords and cost per call. You should understand how that business actually makes money.
Do you know the difference between drain cleaning and sewer repair?
Do you understand why trenchless sewer repair is a completely different conversation, pricing wise and intent wise?
Do you know whether your client recently invested in a hydrojetter?
And here’s the bigger question.
Do you know how many jobs they need to close to break even on that hydrojetter?
That single piece of equipment can change how campaigns should be structured, what services deserve more budget, and which calls are truly high value. If you do not know that, you are flying blind, no matter how clean your account structure looks.
This is where most agencies fall short.
They optimize ads without understanding margins.
They chase leads without understanding capacity.
They report conversions without understanding which jobs actually move the business forward.
The agencies that win long-term do something different.
They get on the calendar with their best clients, and they ask better questions.
Not surface-level questions. Real ones.
How did you get into this business?
What jobs do you actually want more of this year?
Where are you investing money right now, trucks, tools, people?
What problems kept you up at night last year?
Those conversations change everything.
Your strategy gets sharper.
Your recommendations get easier to defend.
Your client stops seeing you as “the ads person” and starts seeing you as part of the business.
And once that happens, you can probably guess which agency they are never thinking about firing.
If you are heading into 2026 without this level of clarity on your top accounts, now is the time to fix that. Block time on your Calendar. Have the conversation with your Client. Learn the business behind the clicks.
It is one of the highest-ROI activities an agency owner can undertake this year.
Here’s to a smarter, more durable 2026.
