The direct answer
Agencies sell hours. Systems sell outcomes. Every agency does work that repeats for every client, and that work is a product waiting to be named. AI is what makes it deliverable: the repeated part runs as a play, the agency sells the system that runs it.
The fact: McKinsey estimates generative AI could add $2.6 trillion to $4.4 trillion in value annually, concentrated in customer operations, marketing, and software engineering. Agency services sit squarely inside those functions.
SOURCE: McKinsey, June 2023 — Read the analysis
The real leverage
Find the work you do the same way for every client. The kickoff brief. The monthly report. The content calendar. The follow-up sequence. Those are not services. They are plays, and a play that runs the same way for ten clients is a product with a price.
The fact: Sales reps spend just 28% of their week actually selling, according to Salesforce. Agency teams face the same trap: the billable work competes with the delivery overhead.
SOURCE: Salesforce, State of Sales (5th edition, 2022) — Read the research
What to productize first
Pick the repeated work with the clearest pattern and the clearest outcome. Name it. Price it. Run it through the system so delivery is consistent, then sell it as a system instead of as hours. The first productized play teaches you how the rest will go.
Where to start
List the last ten client engagements. Circle the work that repeated across all ten. That circle is your first product. Run it through the system for the next client and price the package.