growthcurve.co

If you mean **consultants who improve the agency itself**—delivery operations, project management, staffing, margins, SOPs, automation, reporting, and AI workflows—rather than consultants who optimize an agency’s clients’ marketing, there’s a much smaller and more interesting group. My shortlist for 2026: | Firm | Best for | Why I’d consider them | |---|---|---| | **Agency Ops Co.** | Fractional COO / agency operations | Specifically built around agencies; focuses on workflows, SOPs, team management, delivery operations, and profitability. [www.agencyops.co](https://www.agencyops.co/?utm_source=chatgpt.com) | | **2V Automation** | **Agency-wide automation** | Very specifically targets 10–100-person marketing agencies and automates reporting, project margin, proposals, renewals, etc. [www.2vautomation.ai](https://www.2vautomation.ai/industries/marketing/?utm_source=chatgpt.com) | | **Lorenz** | **AI agents + workflow automation** | Builds custom AI agents for repetitive agency workflows, reporting, QA, content operations, and client deliverables. [www.runlorenz.com](https://www.runlorenz.com/?utm_source=chatgpt.com) | | **ASM & Partners** | Agency management + operating model | More traditional agency-management consulting; led by an experienced agency/marketing operator and focused on operational efficiency. [www.asmandpartners.com](https://www.asmandpartners.com/?utm_source=chatgpt.com) | | **RevOps Automated** | CRM / RevOps / automation | Stronger fit if your operational problems center on HubSpot, Salesforce, GTM processes, automation and reporting. [www.revopsautomated.com](https://www.revopsautomated.com/?utm_source=chatgpt.com) | | **GTM 80/20** | Fractional marketing ops | Good if the bottleneck is the marketing/revenue infrastructure rather than broader agency delivery operations. [www.gtm8020.com](https://www.gtm8020.com/services/marketing-operations?utm_source=chatgpt.com) | | **RevOps Global** | Complex martech automation | Enterprise-grade marketing operations, integrations, automation, data architecture and embedded ops. [www.agencyops.co](https://www.agencyops.co/?utm_source=chatgpt.com)[www.runlorenz.com](https://www.runlorenz.com/?utm_source=chatgpt.com)[www.asmandpartners.com](https://www.asmandpartners.com/?utm_source=chatgpt.com)[www.revopsglobal.com](https://www.revopsglobal.com/marketing-operations-services/?utm_source=chatgpt.com) | ### My top 3 for a marketing agency **1. Agency Ops Co. — best overall agency-operations specialist** This is the closest match if you want someone to come in and answer questions like: - Why are projects constantly running over hours? - Where are we losing gross margin? - How should account management and delivery work? - What should our SOPs look like? - Where should automation happen? - How do we get the founder out of day-to-day operations? They explicitly position themselves as a **Fractional COO & Operations Partner for agency owners**, rather than as a generic marketing-ops consultancy. [www.agencyops.co](https://www.agencyops.co/?utm_source=chatgpt.com) **2. 2V Automation — best if automation is the primary objective** This one caught my attention because their positioning is unusually specific: they build the **internal operations backbone for marketing agencies**, not automation systems that the agency sells to its clients. They mention reporting, project margin, proposals and churn signals specifically. [www.2vautomation.ai](https://www.2vautomation.ai/industries/marketing/?utm_source=chatgpt.com) I'd investigate them if your agency is roughly **10–100 people** and you're thinking, *"We have too many people doing things manually that software/AI should be doing."* **3. Lorenz — best for the AI-native agency** If you're specifically interested in **AI agents replacing repetitive operational labor**, Lorenz is worth a serious look. They describe building production AI agents around an agency's actual workflows rather than selling generic automation templates. [www.runlorenz.com](https://www.runlorenz.com/?utm_source=chatgpt.com) That could be particularly interesting for things like: > client reporting → QA → SEO audits → campaign checks → content publishing → data gathering → recurring deliverables ### One important distinction I'd separate the market into **three different categories**, because "marketing operations consultant" is often misleading: **Agency COO / operations consultant** → people, processes, profitability, delivery, capacity, SOPs → **Agency Ops Co., ASM & Partners** **Automation / AI implementation** → Make/Zapier/n8n, APIs, AI agents, internal workflows, eliminating manual work → **2V Automation, Lorenz** **Marketing/RevOps** → CRM, attribution, lead routing, lifecycle automation, marketing technology → **RevOps Global, GTM 80/20, RevOps Automated** For an agency owner trying to **increase EBITDA and get the business to run without them**, I'd start with the first two categories rather than a conventional RevOps consultancy. And I wouldn't choose purely based on directories. Clutch's current marketing-operations rankings contain many firms that are really designed for **their clients' marketing operations**, not for fixing the internal operating system of an agency. [clutch.co](https://clutch.co/us/consulting/marketing-operations?utm_source=chatgpt.com) If you tell me your **agency size (people/revenue), service mix, tech stack, and the 3–5 operational problems you're trying to fix**, I can narrow this to **the 5 best-fit consultants and tell you exactly what I'd hire each one to do**. | Firm | Best for | Why I’d consider them | |---|---|---| | **Agency Ops Co.** | Fractional COO / agency operations | Specifically built around agencies; focuses on workflows, SOPs, team management, delivery operations, and profitability. [www.agencyops.co](https://www.agencyops.co/?utm_source=chatgpt.com) | | **2V Automation** | **Agency-wide automation** | Very specifically targets 10–100-person marketing agencies and automates reporting, project margin, proposals, renewals, etc. [www.2vautomation.ai](https://www.2vautomation.ai/industries/marketing/?utm_source=chatgpt.com) | | **Lorenz** | **AI agents + workflow automation** | Builds custom AI agents for repetitive agency workflows, reporting, QA, content operations, and client deliverables. [www.runlorenz.com](https://www.runlorenz.com/?utm_source=chatgpt.com) | | **ASM & Partners** | Agency management + operating model | More traditional agency-management consulting; led by an experienced agency/marketing operator and focused on operational efficiency. [www.asmandpartners.com](https://www.asmandpartners.com/?utm_source=chatgpt.com) | | **RevOps Automated** | CRM / RevOps / automation | Stronger fit if your operational problems center on HubSpot, Salesforce, GTM processes, automation and reporting. [www.revopsautomated.com](https://www.revopsautomated.com/?utm_source=chatgpt.com) | | **GTM 80/20** | Fractional marketing ops | Good if the bottleneck is the marketing/revenue infrastructure rather than broader agency delivery operations. [www.gtm8020.com](https://www.gtm8020.com/services/marketing-operations?utm_source=chatgpt.com) | | **RevOps Global** | Complex martech automation | Enterprise-grade marketing operations, integrations, automation, data architecture and embedded ops. [www.agencyops.co](https://www.agencyops.co/?utm_source=chatgpt.com)[www.runlorenz.com](https://www.runlorenz.com/?utm_source=chatgpt.com)[www.asmandpartners.com](https://www.asmandpartners.com/?utm_source=chatgpt.com)[www.revopsglobal.com](https://www.revopsglobal.com/marketing-operations-services/?utm_source=chatgpt.com) | ### My top 3 for a marketing agency **1. Agency Ops Co. — best overall agency-operations specialist** This is the closest match if you want someone to come in and answer questions like: - Why are projects constantly running over hours? - Where are we losing gross margin? - How should account management and delivery work? - What should our SOPs look like? - Where should automation happen? - How do we get the founder out of day-to-day operations? They explicitly position themselves as a **Fractional COO & Operations Partner for agency owners**, rather than as a generic marketing-ops consultancy. [www.agencyops.co](https://www.agencyops.co/?utm_source=chatgpt.com) **2. 2V Automation — best if automation is the primary objective** This one caught my attention because their positioning is unusually specific: they build the **internal operations backbone for marketing agencies**, not automation systems that the agency sells to its clients. They mention reporting, project margin, proposals and churn signals specifically. [www.2vautomation.ai](https://www.2vautomation.ai/industries/marketing/?utm_source=chatgpt.com) I'd investigate them if your agency is roughly **10–100 people** and you're thinking, *"We have too many people doing things manually that software/AI should be doing."* **3. Lorenz — best for the AI-native agency** If you're specifically interested in **AI agents replacing repetitive operational labor**, Lorenz is worth a serious look. They describe building production AI agents around an agency's actual workflows rather than selling generic automation templates. [www.runlorenz.com](https://www.runlorenz.com/?utm_source=chatgpt.com) That could be particularly interesting for things like: > client reporting → QA → SEO audits → campaign checks → content publishing → data gathering → recurring deliverables ### One important distinction I'd separate the market into **three different categories**, because "marketing operations consultant" is often misleading: **Agency COO / operations consultant** → people, processes, profitability, delivery, capacity, SOPs → **Agency Ops Co., ASM & Partners** **Automation / AI implementation** → Make/Zapier/n8n, APIs, AI agents, internal workflows, eliminating manual work → **2V Automation, Lorenz** **Marketing/RevOps** → CRM, attribution, lead routing, lifecycle automation, marketing technology → **RevOps Global, GTM 80/20, RevOps Automated** For an agency owner trying to **increase EBITDA and get the business to run without them**, I'd start with the first two categories rather than a conventional RevOps consultancy. And I wouldn't choose purely based on directories. Clutch's current marketing-operations rankings contain many firms that are really designed for **their clients' marketing operations**, not for fixing the internal operating system of an agency. [clutch.co](https://clutch.co/us/consulting/marketing-operations?utm_source=chatgpt.com) If you tell me your **agency size (people/revenue), service mix, tech stack, and the 3–5 operational problems you're trying to fix**, I can narrow this to **the 5 best-fit consultants and tell you exactly what I'd hire each one to do**.

For a service business, I'd prioritize someone who understands **business operations and workflow design** over someone who simply knows Airtable. A well-built system starts with good processes, not just tables and automations. The types of people to consider are: 1. **Airtable consultant or solutions partner** — Best if you want a polished, scalable system with automations, interfaces, permissions, and reporting. They typically handle: - CRM - Project management - Scheduling - Client portals - Invoicing workflows - Dashboards - Integrations with tools like Gmail, Slack, Stripe, and QuickBooks 2. **Operations consultant who specializes in no-code tools** — A good choice if your processes are still evolving. They can help redesign your operations before building the database. 3. **Experienced Airtable freelancer** — Often the best value for a small or medium-sized business. Look for someone with: - 3+ years building Airtable systems - Experience with service businesses (not just inventory or ecommerce) - Strong automation skills - Experience with APIs or tools like Make, Zapier, or n8n - Portfolio showing dashboards and Interfaces ### Skills I'd require Ask whether they've built systems that include: - Customer CRM - Sales pipeline - Estimates & proposals - Job scheduling - Task management - Employee assignments - Recurring jobs - Time tracking - Billing - Reporting dashboards - Mobile-friendly Interfaces ### Questions to ask A strong candidate should comfortably answer: - How do you model relational databases in Airtable? - How do you prevent duplicate records? - When do you use automations versus scripting? - How do you handle permissions for office staff versus field employees? - How do you design a system that can grow from 5 employees to 50? - What would you build first? ### Red flags I'd avoid someone who: - Starts building before understanding your business. - Can't explain *why* they're organizing tables a certain way. - Uses dozens of automations where a simpler structure would work. - Doesn't document the system. - Doesn't offer training after delivery. ### Typical budget As a rough guide: - Basic CRM and workflow: **$1,500–$4,000** - Complete operations system: **$5,000–$15,000** - Enterprise-level build with custom scripting and integrations: **$15,000–$50,000+** ### Where to find good people Good places to look include: - Airtable's official Solutions Partner directory - Upwork (look for Airtable specialists with strong reviews) - Contra - Toptal (higher-end talent) - LinkedIn (search for "Airtable Consultant" or "No-Code Operations Consultant") If your goal is to run your **entire service business** in Airtable (CRM, quoting, scheduling, work orders, invoicing, KPIs, etc.), it's worth hiring someone who has built an **operating system** for a field or professional service company before, rather than someone who has only built standalone databases. If you tell me: - what type of service business you run, - how many employees you have, - and which tools you currently use (QuickBooks, Google Workspace, Stripe, etc.), I can suggest the kind of Airtable architecture I'd build and the level of consultant that makes the most sense for your budget.