Long-Term Greed

In the previous article we unpacked the agency stereotype and how Nexubis is trying pretty damn hard to fight it.

Quick recap:
You pay.
They promise the world.
They vanish like socks in a tumble dryer.

You are left with a pretty PDF, a lighter bank account, and an extra wrinkle of distrust.

Today I want to hone in on one important idea that sits underneath that whole mess. It is simple, it is often ignored, and it explains exactly why so many companies still get burned by agencies.

If anything, this is the ONE TELL that a company does not care about you or your success and is only hunting the next paycheck.

Here it is:

Good partners provide value upfront.
Before engagement.
Before contract.
Definitely before payment.

Dear agency founders and client onboarders, let me repeat that for the people in the back:

Provide value upfront. Payment is a byproduct of results.

We are in the business of problem solving, not just delivery.

Think about it. The most successful people in the world are the ones who solved a big problem. The ones who stayed successful are the ones who stuck around long term, kept solving, and found new problems worth fixing along the way.

That is the mindset you need to foster if you want trust instead of churn.

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How most agency calls actually go

You know this dance.

A company reaches out.
You schedule an "intro call".
Everyone says hi. Cameras on. Awkward small talk.

Then it goes something like this:

"So, tell us more about your company."
The client talks. The agency nods. Maybe they scribble a few things down.
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Then the switch:

"Cool. So here is what we do..."
Cue the service list. The portfolio flex. The promises. The "we can absolutely help you with that."
Then they email a proposal.

Here is the problem:

At no point did anyone ask, properly and directly, "What are your biggest issues right now? Where are you stuck? What is actually breaking under the hood?"

How can you claim you can help if you have not even dug into the pain?

See the problem? How could you? Cause the agency never even asked what the company's biggest issues and bottlenecks are.

You cannot help. You are guessing. And guessing with someone else's money is not a service. It is gambling.

What providing value upfront actually looks like

This is where value comes in.

You ask about their main pain points. You go deeper. You listen. You poke. You ask the questions they are slightly uncomfortable answering.

And then you give them something useful they can walk away with, even if they never sign with you.

We recently had a call with someone who is already making decent money as a freelancer. He wants to turn that momentum into an agency. On paper, he just wanted a simple website.

We could have nodded, quoted, and shipped a site.

Instead, we zoomed out.

We talked through his systems.
The realities of the industry.
Basic operational structure.
Hell, even tax, how to register a company, what to watch out for, links, references, intros.

None of that was hidden behind a paywall. All that upfront value came before we even mentioned pricing.

Why? Because it leaves an impact. It gives context. It adds actual wisdom instead of just pixels.

He will always remember how that felt. How we handled the call. That is the point.

If your "value" only starts once an invoice is paid, you are not a partner. You are a vendor with a nicer logo.

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Vendor vs partner

This is why I get so frustrated with most agencies.

They pretend to care, but every useful thought has a price tag attached to it. Every idea is "inside the scope". Every insight is a "paid workshop".

That is not partnership. That is vending.

Nexubis is built on the opposite idea. Long term partnership first. Transaction second.

We would rather over deliver on clarity, thinking, and direction at the start, then let the work follow from there. Because if we help you see your own business more clearly, you will know if we are your people.

And if we are not, you still walk away sharper than you arrived.

That is the job.

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"We are greedy, but long term greedy"

There is this famous Goldman Sachs line:

"We are greedy, but long term greedy."

At first glance it sounds a bit suss. Like something a Bond villain says right before they press a red button.

But here is the core:

Long term greedy means you optimize for profit over a long horizon, not just the next quick win.

And if you sit with that for a second, it is basically the definition of partnership.

You play the long game.
You take time to understand your client inside out.
You suggest what is optimal, not what is convenient.
You intentionally do things that may not maximize revenue this month, because you know they build trust over years.

You support them post launch.
You grow side by side.
Their wins become your wins.

When our clients win, we do not need to spray and pray for new business every month just to keep the lights on. Work starts to flow in organically through referrals, shared decks, and "you have to chat to these guys" messages.

I cannot imagine running an agency that lives entirely on cold leads every month just to keep the lights on. That is not a business. That is a treadmill.

Long term partnerships are not only more sustainable as a strategy. They are more ethical too. Two birds, one stone.

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Why we show up the way we do

I would not have it any other way.

These partnerships are what keep me and the team going. We genuinely care about the companies we work with. We obsess over the details, the systems, the tiny tweaks that compound over time.

And as Hannibal from the A-Team would say (really showing my age here):

"I love it when a plan comes together."

Picture me saying that, lighting a cigarette, and taking a sip of the next cup of caffeine while we push for better results for the partners we already have and the ones we have not met yet.

If you are tired of vendors who only show up when the invoice clears, go find the people who bring value before anything is signed.

That is your tell.
That is partnership.
That is Nexubis.

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