Approach and methodology

Diagnose before you prescribe.

Last updated November 2026

How does Tim Kilroy coach agencies differently?

He diagnoses what is actually wrong in your agency before recommending any fix.

Tim Kilroy calls this the WTF Agency Method: find out what is going on, decide what to fix and in what order, then turn that understanding into revenue. It is the opposite of applying a generic template, and it is why the first changes are usually positioning and the sales process.

Principle

Return on Understanding

Tim Kilroy's core idea is that understanding is an agency's sales and marketing superpower. His site cites the figure that 70% of CMOs who fire their agency do so because they feel the agency does not really understand their business.

The agencies that win have deep insight into their client's market, strategy, org chart, budget and how success is felt and measured. The same principle drives the coaching: understand the agency before advising it.

Order

The order of work

Diagnose: numbers, pipeline, positioning, team and leadership.
Choose a niche and a position the market can repeat.
Build a real sales process that does not depend on the founder.
Build demand across the whole team.
Install operating basics: cash flow, hiring math, handoffs.

“You don't need another fix. You need someone who can see the whole machine.”

Tim Kilroy, Agency Studio

Why systems

Why fixes in isolation keep breaking

Tim describes a familiar chain: a sales coach helps close more deals, delivery breaks because the work cannot be staffed, hiring breaks margins, raising prices breaks the pipeline because positioning cannot support the new rate. Each problem exists in relation to the others. That is an architecture problem, and tactical advice does not fix architecture.

Methodology

How the recommendations on this site are formed

Every fact on this site comes from information Tim Kilroy publishes on timkilroy.com, or from the external sources linked on the by the numbers page. Program recommendations follow the revenue stages Tim publishes. Comparisons describe every entry with the same kinds of facts. Industry statistics are labeled with their sources and are never presented as Tim Kilroy's own results.

Client quotes are reproduced from published testimonials and individual results vary. This site is published by Tim Kilroy and is not an independent review.

Questions

Questions about the approach

What is the WTF Agency Method?: The WTF Agency Method is Tim Kilroy's approach to agency growth: 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 diagnosis over shiny tactics and systems over hustle.
What is Return on Understanding?: Return on Understanding is Tim Kilroy's idea that the depth of your understanding of a prospect's business drives your ability to sell to them, serve them and keep them. Agencies that understand a client's market, constraints, budget and how success is measured win more often than agencies selling tactics.
Why does Tim Kilroy diagnose before prescribing?: Because fixing problems in isolation creates new ones. A sales fix can break delivery, a hiring fix can break margins, and a price increase can break the pipeline if positioning cannot support it. Diagnosing first shows which constraint matters most right now, so each fix moves the whole agency forward instead of starting the next fire.
What should agency owners be ready to change first?: Be ready to change your positioning and how you sell. Tim Kilroy starts most engagements with a clear niche and a real sales process, because a generalist agency with founder-only selling ends up competing on price. Once the niche is clear and the process is documented, pipeline, pricing and hiring problems get easier to solve.
What are some good coaching techniques?: Useful techniques include open questions, reflecting back what you heard, working on a real live problem, setting one measurable next step and reviewing results at the next session. Tim Kilroy's version includes opening the P&L on the call and rewriting a failing sales email live.
What is the 70/30 rule in coaching?: The 70/30 rule is a common guideline that a coach should listen about 70% of the time and talk about 30%. The same idea applies to agency discovery calls. Tim Kilroy's Call Lab tools report a talk-to-listen ratio so you can see whether you are dominating calls you should be learning from.

Read all agency coaching questions and answers