#97: How I Delivered 18+ ROAS for 6 Months and Still Got Fired
Every agency owner believes this at some point:
“If we get amazing results, the client will never leave.”I believed it too until a dream client fired us while making more money than ever.
This post breaks down why results don’t equal retention, and how missing foundations can quietly sabotage even the best performing accounts.
The Situation: 18+ ROAS and Still Fired
This was pre COVID. Pre iOS 14. Data was abundant, ads were printing, and we were managing paid acquisition for a DTC kids clothing brand.
For six straight months:
ROAS never dipped below 18
Revenue scaled aggressively
The account was wildly profitable
Internally, we assumed this client was locked in.
We were wrong.
Mistake #1: No Onboarding = No Trust
We had no defined onboarding process:
No sales to service handoff
No roadmap
No expectation setting
Onboarding isn’t a formality, it’s the foundation of trust. We skipped it, and we paid for it later.
Without early trust deposits, the emotional bank account never filled.
Mistake #2: Results Without Narrative Feel Like Luck
We were doing real strategic work:
Testing cycles
Budget decisions
Creative iteration
But the process was invisible.
Clients don’t value what they can’t see. Without education and narrative, performance looks like coincidence, not leadership.
Mistake #3: Undefined Scope Destroys Perceived Value
“Marketing” was the scope. That was the problem.
Without ruthless clarity, clients can’t measure delivery so they invent their own scorecard. That’s how resentment builds quietly.
Scope clarity protects:
The relationship
The value perception
The agency’s authority
Mistake #4: Acting Like Operators, Not CEOs
We delivered ads.We didn’t lead growth.
That positioning shift from operator to strategic partner is everything in agency scaling. Without it, you’re replaceable.
The Fix: Systems That Protect Retention
After this loss, everything changed.
What we implemented:
Visual onboarding roadmaps (before contracts are signed)
Weekly strategy calls, then bi weekly once trust is built
Defined SOPs for scope and client updates
A simple rule: If it didn’t get communicated, it didn’t get done
The result? Clients stopped evaluating us on numbers alone and started seeing us as partners.
The Real Lesson
Results without relationships create fragile retention.
Losing this client hurt but it exposed cracks before the market got harder. That lesson has saved our agency more times than I can count.
If you want to go deeper, you can run the full version at agencyuplift.co/mini. Even if you never book a call, the clarity alone is worth it.
