Custom work feels like the gold standard of agency service: “We adapt to you.” It signals premium delivery, promises tailored results, and can be fulfilling and profitable for some agencies.
But the reality is that custom work carries hidden costs. These often stay hidden until you’re buried in operational chaos, struggling to scale, or wondering why your margins don’t match your team’s effort—the opposite of Work Less, Earn More.
The downsides of 100% custom work at agencies
I’m not saying you should never do custom work. But if everything you offer is custom, you’re almost certainly leaving money, time, and peace of mind on the table.
Let’s unpack why.
Sales: You can’t delegate a moving target
If every engagement is different, your sales process is complex by default. There’s no baseline scope, no proven pricing structure, and no sales collateral that applies across clients. It becomes nearly impossible to train someone else to sell for you.
Even if you’re great at consultative selling, custom work extends the sales cycle, fuels pricing ambiguity, and turns proposals into a heavy lift. It also makes it harder to escape founder-led sales.
Productized services, by contrast, create a clear (and repeatable) offer. This makes it easier to delegate sales, shorten the buying process, and increase close rates.
Client expectations: Confusion creeps in fast
Custom projects create a maze of expectations. Clients assume things that seem standard, but aren’t actually scoped. You may end up navigating surprise feedback, scope debates, or trust breakdowns—not because your team failed, but because expectations weren’t aligned.
When you productize your services, you create consistency. Expectations are clearer from the start. Boundaries are easier to communicate and enforce. You can still overdeliver when it makes sense—but now it’s a choice, not a trap.
Project management: Chaos scales with complexity
Agencies that do custom work often find project managers stretched thin. When each project has a different scope, delivery method, and team structure, it’s hard to set up repeatable systems.
That makes enforcing scope much harder—especially when a PM is juggling 10, 15, or even 20 projects.
Productized work allows for tighter scoping, stronger templates, and smoother handoffs. It also gives PMs a better shot at managing timelines, budgets, and quality.
Operations: Invoicing becomes a monthly fire drill
If every engagement is different, your billing process probably is too. You’re tracking custom milestones, revisiting contracts, debating what’s billable, or manually tweaking invoices.
At best, it burns a few hours. At worst, it delays revenue, triggers budget write-offs, or strains client relationships.
When you standardize your services, you can standardize your invoicing. That frees up your ops team to focus on improvements—not emergencies.
Creative and technical delivery: Constant reinvention leads to burnout
Custom work often means your SME team is constantly “figuring it out.” That can be intellectually exciting—until it becomes emotionally exhausting.
The mental load of solving new problems each week wears down even the most talented people. When your team is underwater, quality inevitably suffers.
Productized services reduce the cognitive load. They create space for depth, refinement, and innovation—instead of daily reinvention.
Culture: Variety is good… until it breaks your team
Agency leaders sometimes say, “We do custom work because our team loves variety.”
That’s fair. Nobody at an agency wants to feel like they work on an assembly line. But variety shouldn’t have to mean chaos. And most people would rather feel competent and calm than overwhelmed and confused.
Productization creates a healthy rhythm. It sets your team up to succeed, while leaving room for creativity and growth.
Where to start: Productize your discovery process
If productizing your entire service offering feels overwhelming, start with something smaller: your discovery phase. Instead of reinventing discovery every time, create a standard paid discovery engagement with a clear scope, timeline, and outcome.
I do this with the Agency Growth Diagnostic—a productized strategic assessment that gives agency leaders actionable insights and sets the stage for optional further support. Discovery is the perfect pilot for productization. It protects your time, increases conversion, and builds client confidence.
Need help designing a productized discovery process? Read this guide or get in touch if you’d like advice tailored to your agency.
FAQ on service productization: What agency leaders ask me most often
Q: Isn’t custom work how we win big clients?
A: Sometimes—but not always. Many big clients want consistency, predictability, and clarity more than extreme flexibility. A well-structured productized service can be just as (or more) attractive. And if they insist on a custom engagement, you can decide if it’s worth it.
Q: Won’t my team get bored?
A: Not if you balance repeatability with strategic problem-solving. Most people prefer feeling competent and in control. You can always layer in custom consulting or creative work after a standardized foundation.
Q: Can we still offer retainers?
A: Yes—and you probably should. But structure your retainers around productized outcomes (or sometimes blocks of time), rather than a grab-bag of whatever-the-client-wants.
Q: What if our services are too complex to productize?
A: Start small. Productize the entry point (like discovery), or productize just one piece of your most common offering. You don’t need to productize everything to see major improvements.
Final thought: Productization isn’t the enemy of creativity
Choosing to productize doesn’t mean you’re becoming a rigid, soulless machine. It means you’re choosing clarity over chaos, repeatability over reinvention, and scale over strain.
You can still do custom work. But when productization becomes your norm and custom the exception, you’ll notice something shifts. Sales gets faster, delivery gets easier, margins improve, and you and your team can breathe easier.
Curious to dive deeper? Check out my article comparing custom and productized models—or book a call to explore productization in your agency.
Question: What should you productize next at your agency?
