Again, this point is highly biased and my full disclosure is that I have done both sides. A lot of strategists have solely agency-side experience. I feel that limits their ability to understand the struggles that a client has to go through with internal pressures, politics, P&L, messy internal data, limited resources, etc. Agency-side experience teaches you to always err on the side of caution and turns you into somewhat of a Salesman. But a good partner needs to know when to break best practices and quit up-selling. Knowing how to navigate that balance makes someone with agency and client-side experience more able to be an integral part of your overall business more than just an email advisor.