Ali Newton-Temperley
Impact Snapshot
Ali Newton-Temperley is the operational and commercial engine behind Unusual Group, a leader who blends psychology, commercial thinking, and real agency experience to help founders scale with clarity and confidence.
Ali completed a foundation year in fine art and fashion before pursuing a BSc in Psychology. She later spent several months conducting market research for brands such as John Lewis and Schuh, providing her with early exposure to large-scale retail and consumer insights. After achieving her Chartered Institute of Marketing qualification, she joined a small family business in a marketing role, a move that brought her into contact with agencies. It quickly became clear that agency life moved faster, demanded more, and offered far greater excitement. So she made the switch and never looked back.
In her first agency, she progressed rapidly: from sales and account management to project management team lead within six months, and then into the newly created Head of Sales role. She was tasked with building the agency’s first sales team so the founder could focus on mergers and acquisitions, and she delivered. Over the next few years, the agency doubled to 80+ people. Ali built a revenue engine that spanned sales, account management, and marketing, freeing the founder from day-to-day sales dependency and ultimately enabling her to step into the Commercial Director role.
After proving she could scale an agency from the inside, Ali founded The Agency Growth Pad to help other agencies do the same. She went on to write Agency Exits, interviewing seven founders who had successfully sold their agencies and distilling the patterns, lessons, and commercial drivers behind strong valuations and life after exit.
Today, as COO at Unusual Group, Ali supports agencies on their growth journey and helps founders build the clarity, systems, and commercial strength required to scale, and, when the time is right, achieve a successful exit.
The Work Ali Does With Founders
Founders don’t come to Ali because things are falling apart; they come to her because they’re nearly working. The agency is good, but not yet great. Busy, but not consistently profitable. Growing, but in a way that feels fragile.
Ali helps agency leaders solve the problems that keep them stuck in the messy middle:
- Growth feels more random than reliable
- Proposals aren’t quite closing, and leads are ghosting
- Marketing is like looking at a cobbler’s shoes
- Sales are stuck in founder-land
- Client retention needs a boost (it’s hard trying to fill a leaky bucket)
- Profits are leaking away
- Systems aren’t working as hard as they could be
- Teams need more support, coaching and development than you have time to give
- There’s no time to get to important work that you know will move the needle (think USPs, marketing, sales!)
- You need someone to talk to who ‘gets it’, has been there, and can offer an outside perspective.
Ali brings the structure, challenge, and clarity founders need to get out of survival mode and into strategic leadership.
What It Looks Like to Work With Ali
Ali’s consultancy is practical, commercial, and grounded. No theory. No fluff.
She works with founders on the levers that actually move revenue, margin, and momentum.
Leadership & Growth Strategy
Designing and implementing a strategy you can actually deliver, and putting the right people in the right places so you’re no longer holding the whole business up.
Churn & Retention
Fixing the leaky bucket so clients stay longer, spend more, and grow with you.
Securing New Business
Building a reliable sales engine: repeatable processes, better inbound, consistent lead flow, and proposals that close.
Revenue & Commercials
Increasing average client value, strengthening commercial models, and designing a resilient, predictable revenue system.
Commercial Acumen & Sales Nouse
Coaching teams to think commercially, speak confidently, and reduce the pressure sitting on the founder.
Unique Value Proposition
Sharpening your position and message so you attract ideal clients with bigger budgets and longer relationships.
People & Team Structure
Building high-performing teams with clear roles, stronger ownership, better training, and minimal turnover.
If it affects growth, revenue, leadership, or commercial performance, Ali is involved.
Why Ali Does This Work
Ali’s belief is simple: the best agencies don’t just look good from the outside, they run cleanly on the inside. Founders deserve a brand and a commercial engine that work together, so their hard work turns into freedom and options, not just more complexity.
Ali’s Perspective on Agency Growth
Ali has a rare way of seeing agencies: she can spot the patterns, blind spots, and opportunities most founders are too close to notice. Her background spans commercial strategy, creative thinking, and human behaviour, which means she understands both the logic and the emotions behind agency growth.
She brings structure to chaos, clarity to complexity, and confidence to overwhelmed founders. No jargon. No theory. Just grounded, practical insight that helps agencies grow stronger, smarter, and more sustainably.
In Her Own Words
“Agencies don’t need more hustle; they need more clarity.
When you put the right systems, people, and revenue model in place, you free the founder and the business starts scaling the way it always should have.”
If You’re an Agency Founder Who…
- Feels like you “should be further along”
- Wants to grow but not through chaos
- Needs a clearer revenue engine
- Wants a team that can own delivery without you
- Or simply wants someone experienced to think with
…Ali is the person founders turn to.
Work With Ali
- Book a strategic call
- Explore advisory support
- Book Ali to speak at your agency or event
Ali’s work helps founders step fully into leadership, with a business that can finally scale without relying on them.