1. Why did you set up an agency?
The purpose of an agency is to deliver quality content to brands and
companies who don’t have the resources. A client’s success equals
the agency’s success and we work together to ensure everyone
is getting what they need to accomplish the task at hand. Being
mindful of whether your agency is a hobby or side hustle, scaling
an agency creates individual income for the proprietor but it is not
always an easy feat.
2. Why should you scale your agency?
Why did you start your agency?
Does scaling free up more time for you as the owner?
Would you be more focused on creating a low touch
income stream?
Or are you scaling to increase your personal reputation /
industry influence?
The value of your business is determined by how much revenue
it can generate without the owner’s direct involvement in the
process of servicing clients. When you begin an agency, the owner’s
engagement is needed to get started but with scaling, it should
become less and less overtime. Scaling is the growth of your
agency and scaling in one area often translates into other facets of
your business. This can be data or clients; either way it’s important
for agencies to scale to be competitive, efficient and build their
reputation and their not at risk revenue.
3. How much is my agency worth?
Evaluating the worth of your agency comes down to annual revenue numbers. How much is your agency making? Has it grown substantially over the years? Is it increasing on an annual basis?
An agency owner should have set goals in place for their scaling strategy to be successful. This increases equity, providing a clear and promising exit strategy. These goals can include investing in resources and employees, delegation of tasks, building client rapport, expanding teams and more. These goals impact the overall valuation of a business so owners can plan their exit strategy.
4. How do I grow my business beyond its current state?
If you buckle down, clear your mind, and look at things in perspective, you can easily identify ways you can grow your business and make more money. Assess where you can make changes, whether those be big or small, they can make all the difference. Are there opportunities to expand your offering? Do you have clients mentioning a desired service that you haven’t considered yourself a player in yet? If you build websites, why not also offer SEO on retainer? If you create organic social content, why not offer marketing consultancy?
Growing your business comes down to numbers, outsourcing requirements where needed and having set goals in place. See what changes you can make to expand your current limitations.
5. Who is your ideal customer?
Tailoring to a niche customer base enables your agency to align with a client’s specific needs and requirements. Outsourcing ensures you can facilitate a broad range of clients as you are not putting all your eggs in one basket with limits on the content you can produce. During the pandemic, a multitude of businesses plummeted and even had to close. If your agency only focused on hospitality clients, it would have failed due to this plummet. Reviewing your inhouse and skill set allows for specific triggers to the ideal customer ensuring your customers consider your agency over others.
Outsourcing ensures your ideal customers are endless.
6. How do I find new prospects?
Once you have worked out your message and your specific niche, your agency is able to generate new business. Many agencies build their client base from word of mouth recommendations but this does not always deliver on new prospect results. A lack of client acquisition strategy can often leave your agencies up in the air with no real path to follow. Once you have the message of your niche, you need to get that message out there.
This can be done through marketing, networking and putting yourself and your brand out there.
7. Become a master of everything?
Have you ever heard someone say “You’re too skilled”?
Probably not, because there is never a downfall to knowing more
than is required. Having a broad range of skills within your agency
is the ideal way to add revenue to your agency. Outsourcing the
skills your agency lacks gives your business the freedom to say yes
to all client requests that may have previously been rejected. This
increases your agency’s client base with access to a broad range of
skills being outsourced. Increase your diversification of services to
increase your client spending and boost your overall agency growth.
8. Reinforcing the foundations?
Your foundations are your team.
Ensuring your team is talented and retaining this talent is key in scaling your agency. If you only have one or two resources in each discipline then your growth will remain at a minimum due to the lack of capacity your team may have. Constantly adding talent and retaining the talent you have is the only way to ensure your agency’s growth does not stagnate.
9. Avoid the 3 ring circus of resource management?
Maintaining business continuity and retaining talent are two of the biggest difficulties agencies face when trying to scale their business. Upholding what you started can be tricky and managing disparate resources such as freelancers and upworkers as well as HR costs and the like can cause implications when trying to scale your business. These challenges can hinder business continuity and talent retention.
10. Where to now?
Overall, there are many factors to take into consideration when scaling your business. Retaining talent and sourcing new talent while measuring numbers and taking chances on new projects are a few of the ways your agency can thrive. Making your business market ready can also be achieved by finding an outsourcing partner who can help the agency owner build and scale.
There is no denying outsourcing is an integral part of scaling your agency. Adding the skills your agency lacks and providing access to a broader range of client requests is key in scaling your business. How do you outsource your agency’s growing needs? Agency Stack of course! Our talented team offers an expansive range of abilities that can benefit your agency in more ways than one.
Don’t slip on the important aspects of scaling your business! Start outsourcing to achieve results and watch your business grow.