Most agency owners ask the wrong question when it comes to business development budgets.

Instead of asking "What percentage of revenue should we spend?", the better question is "Where should we invest our business development dollars first?"

Today on Agency Habits, Peter Kang and Sei-Wook Kim break down the five core business development functions every agency invests in, and explain why not all growth dollars are created equal.

You'll learn why gross margin determines what growth investments your agency can actually afford, why account growth consistently delivers the highest ROI, and why outbound is often the most expensive mistake agencies make when their foundations aren't in place.

In this episode they discuss:

📌 Why gross margin is the true funding source for business development

📌 The five business development functions every agency should understand

📌 Why account growth is usually your cheapest and highest-return growth channel

📌 How partnerships and referrals outperform cold outreach over time

📌 Why consistent marketing compounds—even when results aren't immediate

📌 When it's actually time to invest in sales capacity

📌 Why outbound should usually be your last business development investment

📌 Common mistakes agency founders make when allocating growth budgets

📌 A practical exercise to audit your current business development spending

If you're trying to grow your agency more efficiently, this episode will help you spend your next business development dollar in the right place.

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🔗 Follow the hosts on LinkedIn

Peter Kang 👉 https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterkang34/

Sei-Wook Kim 👉 https://www.linkedin.com/in/seiwookkim/