Up until now, you have been at or below 10 employees, that is quite a small team. But the time has come before you, you need to scale past 10 employees. This may seem like a small transition, but in reality can be quite the defining moment. And yes – it does change things. Here’s how to make sure that you will exceed the 10 employees limit.
You have lived the ideal startup life with under 10 employees making every day managing easy and somewhat straightforwardly, now you need more planning, more procedures and more processes in order to have a handle on things. How can you do this?
Read one of our case studies: A need for change in processes – Penguin Strategies.
If you want more employees there is no secret that you will need some work for them to do. Why else would you need them? So a little extra focus and support for the sales department should be of importance if you want to expand.
There is a fine line with this matter. You have to either hire more people before you get more clients or you are getting clients before you have the people to handle it. Either way, it’s important not to rush things – that often lead to bad decisions.
That is why it is important to have procedures in place for hiring and forecasting of customer acquisition. The more time you spend on this the more accurate it will become, aligning the two processes to fit each other.
Of course, it will not be perfect at all times, but what is?
In order to secure work for your employees you should focus on selling the larger retainers you offer, as to small projects.
With new projects, you will have to set aside a certain amount of time for the start-up phase, for people getting to know each other and getting to know a new industry, product or so on. If you have a big retainer creating the grounds for a lot of work, you can have stability and familiarity in the work, leaving time for the important stuff – the actual work.
The larger the retainer the more trust the client is putting into the relationship and the more dependent they will be of your agency. This also makes for more predictable forecasting and stable income.
Find out how Growit Group can help you boost your agency to success.
If you have sold a retainer you should definitely stick to the contract, but there is an exception to every rule. As previously mentioned, a big retainer holds a lot of trust and dependency – also more money.
Maybe this client is huge for you. Maybe it gives the majority of profits to your company. If it means that much to you it’s okay to do a little extra because it can turn out for the better and secure the future of collaboration.
It doesn’t have to be the biggest client either to do a little extra. Maybe they have to start small in order to get the funds or even permission to go bigger with the contract. In these cases, flexibility and hard work can lay the grounds for the possibility for your consultants to up-sell and grow the relationship with the client.
Why understanding your finances is the key to owning a successful Digital Agency?
If you get the above right, you will have the grounds for hiring more employees and expanding your team. This also means challenges in how to handle a bigger team – but that’s another story.
Even though these are exciting times as you are expanding and your dreams and goals for your agency are becoming closer to reach, don’t lose sight of what really matters – what's is really best for your agency.