Enabling Growth Through Collaboration with Chris Bantock

Business Habitat with Sam Dean

In Episode 105 of The Business Habitat podcast, Sam is joined from the UK by marketing expert and Founder of Agency Local, Chris Bantock, to talk about the power of collaboration and knowledge sharing by peers and industry colleagues. With a background in corporate sales and marketing in the technology sector, Chris initially set out to build a business in response to client demand for website design and support. He later collaborated with partners with complementary skillsets, resulting in the formulation of a full-service marketing agency. Fast forward twelve years to 2018 and Chris and his partners sold out of the company, leaving Chris free to pursue an opportunity to mentor and coach other agency owners in their quest to build and scale their businesses. In this conversation, Sam and Chris explore the expert deficit in the creative industries, discussing the gap between industry training and the need for business focused education. Chris believes that by bringing together like-minded agency owners in a social, non-competitive environment, the skills gap can be mitigated through shared learning and experience. Chris founded Agency Local to provide a forum for creative and marketing agencies across the Thames Valley outside of London. With a focus on business growth and development, members come together to collaborate and find new business opportunities, and also to find support and a sense of community. Through this conversation, Sam and Chris consider how this same model could apply to other industries and professional business owners, many of whom are less conditioned to collaboration than their creative counterparts. This discussion brings a wider perspective to the notion of networking for the sake of landing the next sale. With an emphasis on community and social engagement, Chris's business model is a roadmap for more humanistic collaboration and his conversation with Sam is sure to inspire. Here at BlueprintHQ, we are here to help. We are super passionate about the professional services industry and supporting you with what you need. We are offering a 30 minute consultation call to help you with this process. Go to https://www.blueprinthq.com.au/consultation