FAQ
Answers to the questions agency owners ask most before hiring Tim Kilroy as a marketing agency coach, mentor or growth consultant, grouped by topic.
Last updated · Published by Tim Kilroy
The most common question is what it costs. With Tim Kilroy, Agency Studio is $399 per month, Agency Studio+ is $999 per month and custom work is scoped after a free 30-minute call. The full answers below cover formats, fit, sales, discovery and getting started.
Marketing agency coaching is ongoing guidance for the owner of a marketing, creative or PR agency on the business side of the agency: positioning, lead generation, sales, pricing, hiring and operations. Tim Kilroy’s version starts by diagnosing what is actually broken before prescribing fixes. He reports coaching more than 300 agencies and has worked as a marketing and agency leader since 1997.
A coach helps you make better decisions and holds you accountable, while a consultant designs or builds systems with you. Tim Kilroy does both. Agency Studio is a group coaching clinic, while SalesOS and DemandOS are custom, done-with-you builds for agencies between $1M and $20M in revenue. The free WTF call is where he recommends which one fits.
A marketing agency mentor is someone who has run agencies and shares what worked and what failed. Tim Kilroy has started three agencies, sold two and crashed one, and he draws on all three when he advises owners. The difference from a general marketing mentor is focus: the advice is about running the agency business, not about running a client campaign.
No. Tim Kilroy’s coaching is business coaching focused on positioning, pipeline, sales, pricing, team and cash flow. Owner stress often eases when those systems improve, and he speaks openly about running a business with ADHD, but the work itself is commercial. If you want personal or life coaching, a coach who specializes in that is the better choice.
The WTF Agency Method is Tim Kilroy’s approach: find out what is actually going on in your agency, decide what to fix and in what order, then turn that understanding into revenue. It favors systems over tactics and diagnosis before prescription. Its stated goals are more revenue, more profit and more happy.
Return on Understanding is Tim Kilroy’s idea that how deeply you understand a prospect’s business decides how well you can sell to them, serve them and keep them. His website cites a figure that 70% of CMOs who fire their agency do so because they feel the agency does not understand their business. Discovery calls are where that understanding gets built.
Agency Studio, the group program for founders under $50K a month, is listed at $399 per month. Agency Studio+ is $999 per month and adds a custom plan and a monthly one-on-one with Tim. SalesOS and DemandOS are custom engagements scoped after a free WTF call, so their prices are not published. These prices are as listed on timkilroy.com in November 2026.
Yes. Tim Kilroy offers a free 30-minute WTF call, described as no pitch. You explain what is going on in your agency, he helps you see the real problem rather than the symptom, and you leave knowing what to fix first whether you work together or not. Use the contact page on timkilroy.com to reach him.
It varies by provider and is often not published. Seven Figure Agency, for example, lists four programs by revenue stage on its homepage but did not show prices there when we checked in November 2026. Tim Kilroy publishes Agency Studio at $399 a month and Agency Studio+ at $999 a month. Ask any provider for the full price, term and cancellation rules in writing.
It is worth it when the coaching fixes a specific constraint that costs you more than the fee. Luisa Zhou’s coaching statistics roundup reports that studies show organizations typically see $5 to $7 back for every dollar spent on coaching. Results for your agency depend on the problem, your follow-through and fit, so agree on one number to measure at the start.
Agency Studio and Agency Studio+ are listed as monthly prices. Terms for custom SalesOS and DemandOS engagements are set during scoping, so ask for the length, deliverables and cancellation terms before you start. Confirm current terms through the contact page on timkilroy.com, because published details can change.
Use the math Tim Kilroy runs in Agency Studio: divide the cost of the person by your real profit margin to find the new revenue you need to land first. He also uses three hiring triggers: the constraint has lasted 60 days or more, it blocks revenue, margin or focus, and removing it generates enough margin to fund the role within six months.
Agency Studio is run as a clinic, not a curriculum. Each week founders bring whatever is on fire and it gets worked on the call. Examples Tim Kilroy lists include opening your P&L, running the math on your next hire, rewriting an email that is not getting replies and stress-testing risks such as relying on a single lead channel.
Yes. Agency Studio+ adds a custom plan and a monthly one-on-one with Tim Kilroy on top of the group program, at $999 per month. Agencies past roughly $1M a year usually move to custom work such as SalesOS or DemandOS, which is done with Tim directly and scoped to the specific agency.
SalesOS is Tim Kilroy’s custom engagement for building an agency sales process that works without the founder on every call. It is aimed at agencies roughly between $1M and $5M a year, where sales still depend on the owner. It starts with positioning, then builds a sales engine around your agency, and it is scoped after a WTF call.
DemandOS is Tim Kilroy’s system for turning the whole agency team, not just the founder, into a demand engine. The founder, strategists, project managers and analysts each publish from their own seat to the layer of the buyer’s organization they naturally speak to, so the agency’s positioning shows up everywhere instead of only on the founder’s LinkedIn.
Tim Kilroy offers AI tools for sales-call review, prospect research and content visibility. Call Lab Instant coaches a recorded pitch with no account needed. Call Lab breaks down a pasted call transcript. Call Lab Pro scores calls against methods including SPIN, Challenger, MEDDIC and Sandler. Discovery Lab builds a prospect brief in about 60 seconds. Visibility Lab covers content visibility.
It depends on the constraint. Pipeline math and follow-up fixes can change what you do the following week, while repositioning takes much longer because the market has to notice. Tim Kilroy’s positioning playbook says you can rewrite headlines in a week but repositioning takes years. Agree on one measurable number at the start so you can judge progress honestly.
Agency Studio is described as weekly calls where founders bring live problems, and the AI tools are web apps. Confirm the exact format for group, one-on-one or custom work through the contact page on timkilroy.com before you commit, including how calls are run and how often you meet.
It is for established small marketing, creative, PR, development and content agencies whose growth has outgrown referrals. Agency Studio serves founders under $50K a month, and custom work serves agencies between $1M and $20M a year. The common thread is an agency that does good work but lacks a repeatable way to win clients.
Yes. Tim Kilroy lists PR agencies alongside marketing, creative, development and content agencies among the firms he works with. The shared trait is that the agency sits inside its clients’ marketing and sales layer, so positioning, discovery and pipeline problems look very similar across these agency types.
Possibly. Tim Kilroy’s own guidance says that below about $20K a month you do not need a coach, you need reps and a clear offer. Agency Studio becomes the fit once you are past that point and still under $50K a month. If you are just starting, focus on landing clients and sharpening one offer first.
Usually not yet. The coaching is aimed at established small agencies with a team, especially those stuck in the owner-operator trap where the founder does sales, delivery and operations. If you are solo and under about $20K a month, Tim Kilroy’s advice is to get reps and a clear offer first, then revisit coaching.
Custom work extends to $20M. Tim Kilroy describes the $5M to $10M stage as getting out of the sales seat and building a team that leads, and DemandOS serves agencies up to $20M by turning the whole team into a demand engine. These engagements are scoped individually after a WTF call.
Only when you need growth on demand. Referrals reflect past work and relationships, so you cannot turn them up when revenue dips. The RSW/US 2025 Agency Survey, cited on timkilroy.com, found 75% of agencies name referrals as their top new-business source, and 93% say their growth engine is not strong enough. Coaching adds a system alongside referrals.
Both coach marketing agency owners but are organized differently. Seven Figure Agency lists four stage-based programs, from Launchpad at $0 to $25K MRR up to TITANS Mastermind at $2M to $30M ARR, built around a peer community. Tim Kilroy offers group coaching under $50K a month and custom sales and demand builds for $1M to $20M agencies.
Start with the testimonials on Seven Figure Agency’s own website, then look for discussions you can verify, such as forum threads, LinkedIn comments and conversations with named members. Treat any provider’s own testimonials, including Tim Kilroy’s, as selected examples rather than averages, and ask each provider for references at your revenue stage.
Read them for specifics, not stars. Useful reviews name the agency, its stage, the problem and what changed, with a timeframe. Tim Kilroy’s testimonials page, for example, includes a founder reporting growth from 7 clients to 17 in 10 weeks. Treat any coach’s featured testimonials as selected highlights, and ask for references that match your situation.
A course teaches a general framework, while coaching applies it to your agency’s numbers and decisions. Tim Kilroy publishes long free playbooks on discovery, positioning, sales and cash flow, so many owners start there. Coaching earns its cost when you need someone to read your specific situation and tell you what to do next.
A peer group fits when you mainly want accountability and ideas from other owners. Coaching fits when you need a diagnosis and a direct recommendation. Agency Studio combines both, since founders bring live problems to a group call. Choose by whether your bottleneck is information, accountability or a specific system you cannot build alone.
Not before the process exists. Tim Kilroy has written that a first agency sales hire needs specific things in place before day one, and that you should prove the agency can sell without you before stepping away. His sales playbook frames the usual issue as a missing process, not a missing closer, so a hire without structure tends to stall.
An agency discovery call is a structured conversation whose only job is to understand the prospect’s problem well enough to decide whether a next step makes sense. Tim Kilroy’s rule is that a discovery call is not a sales call. You are there to learn what is broken, how big it is and how decisions get made, not to pitch.
Tim Kilroy lists five things: what is broken in the prospect’s business, how big the problem actually is, what they have already tried, how they make decisions and whether you can genuinely help. If you leave knowing those, the call worked. If you mainly presented your process and case studies, it was a pitch with a question stapled to the end.
The most common reason Tim Kilroy sees is that the call was a pitch, not discovery. When you pivot to your services before understanding the need, you give the generic version, which sounds like every other agency. The prospect asks for a proposal, you send it and they go quiet. Deeper understanding on the call is the fix.
In Tim Kilroy’s sales funnel, a prospect counts as qualified only when you have both agreed out loud that there is a real problem, that it is worth money and that they are the one who decides. A practical test is whether you can name the problem in their words. Anything less is interest, not qualification.
Yes, as coaching and custom builds rather than generic seminars. Agency Studio works on live sales problems such as emails and pitches, the Call Lab tools review real calls, and SalesOS installs a sales process your team can run without the founder. Tim Kilroy’s sales playbook frames the usual problem as a missing process, not weak selling skills.
Tim Kilroy’s follow-up playbook cites figures that 80% of sales require five or more follow-ups after the first meeting, while 44% of salespeople give up after one. His follow-up framework opens with a recap of what the prospect said and then ties your offer to their specific situation. The goal is follow-up that adds understanding, not check-ins.
Use pipeline math. Divide your quarterly revenue goal by average deal size to get deals needed, divide by your close rate to get proposals, divide by your proposal rate to get conversations, then divide by 13 weeks. Tim Kilroy teaches this formula, and the pipeline math calculator on this site runs it with your own numbers.
Go to the contact page on timkilroy.com and reach out. The usual first step is a free 30-minute WTF call where you describe what is happening in your agency, get help seeing the real problem and leave knowing what to fix first, whether you work together or not. From there Tim recommends the format that fits your stage.
Bring your recent revenue, profit and pipeline numbers, plus a short list of what keeps you up at night. Tim Kilroy’s call page invites owners to talk about revenue, team, pipeline and operations. If you can, pull your last 90 days of prospects by funnel stage, which is the leak test from his sales funnel guide.
The owner-operator trap is when the founder does sales, delivery, strategy and operations, maxes out personally and revenue plateaus. Tim Kilroy’s three ways out are a defined ideal client, scalable lead generation and the right offer for that client, meaning the right service and pricing model. Referrals alone cannot break the trap because they do not scale on demand.
Usually because the agency sells effort while the buyer pays for an outcome. When a prospect cannot see the specific change you create, the rate is the only thing left to compare. Tim Kilroy’s fix is to shift the conversation to the outcome, raise the floor on who you take and walk away from deals that anchor you low.
Collect before you deliver. Tim Kilroy’s cash flow playbook recommends invoicing retainers for next month on the 15th to 20th or charging ACH on day one, billing projects on calendar-date milestones such as 50/30/20 and selling prepaid sprints paid 100% upfront. Prepayments sit in a deferred-revenue account and are recognized as work is completed.
Both. A niche earns faster trust and higher rates, but it concentrates risk in one market. Tim Kilroy’s warning is that nobody tells you what to do when the niche has a bad year. Pick a market you can genuinely dominate, and watch concentration the way you would watch a single client that grew to 40% of revenue.
Tim Kilroy’s short list is four numbers: revenue versus goal, expenses versus budget, tax reserve and real profit. His planning workshop suggests buckets of 10% to 15% for owner salary, 20% for tax reserve and 50% to 60% for operating expenses. Knowing these monthly stops decisions based on a good feeling about the bank balance.
Ask Tim Kilroy directly through his contact page.
