How to Pivot Your Agency to Success with Blake Imeson

Blake Imeson, founder of LimeCuda, returns to the Agency Journey podcast to discuss the strategic pivots that have kept his WordPress agency profitable and growing over seven years.

Moving Upmarket to Corporate Clients

One of the biggest pivots Blake made was transitioning from small business clients to corporate accounts. Small business clients often come with tight budgets, demanding expectations, and a tendency to question every line item. Corporate clients operate differently - they have fewer budget constraints, value consultative relationships, and are more likely to view the agency as a strategic partner rather than a commodity vendor.

This shift required changes in how LimeCuda positioned itself, the level of work they produced, and how they communicated. But the payoff was significant: higher project values, less price sensitivity, and more professional working relationships.

Building Recurring Revenue Through Hosting

Blake identified hosting as an opportunity to create consistent, predictable revenue. By offering hosting as a productized service alongside their design and development work, LimeCuda built a base of recurring income that was not dependent on continuously winning new projects.

This recurring revenue provides stability during slower months and funds ongoing investment in the business. It also strengthens client relationships because the hosting relationship keeps LimeCuda connected to clients between larger projects.

Focusing Expertise and Partnering

Rather than expanding into services outside their core expertise, Blake chose to partner with specialists. LimeCuda stays focused on what they do best - WordPress design and development - and refers clients to trusted partners for services like SEO, paid media, or content creation.

This approach maintains quality, prevents the team from being stretched too thin, and creates reciprocal referral relationships with partner agencies.

Refining the Sales Process

Blake shares how he improved LimeCuda’s sales process over time. Early on, the agency underpriced its services and did not have a structured approach to qualifying leads. Through experience, they implemented upfront vetting to filter out poor-fit prospects, price anchoring to set expectations early, and tiered pricing options that give clients choices while steering them toward the right investment level.

These changes resulted in higher close rates on better projects, which improved both profitability and team morale.