Trying to figure out who to hire next in your agency can keep you up at night, especially if you have made mistakes in past, hiring incorrectly or at the wrong time. There are a few strategies to help you make you make the right decision. Let us walk you through them.
As an agency owner, the buck stops with you, and as a result, you end up wearing many hats in your agency. And yes we know you are versatile and can save money by doing these jobs; however, there comes a time where you have to focus on the role that you are best at and has the most significant impact on the agency. So between now and then write a list of all the tasks/roles/jobs you do every week, month and year.
Then divide up the list into tasks you like and are good at and bring results for your business and then a list of tasks that you are not good at and can be created into a job role or roles. Then you can decide if someone in your company is ready/interested/capable of taking on that role or do you hire externally in the future.
Read more: How Having a Great Team Can Help You Have a Great Agency [Part 1]
Yes, my favourite book gets a mention again - Traction by Gino Wickman, with the Entrepreneurial Operating System, there is an exercise about learning how to build an Accountability Chart for your agency - here is a short video explaining how it works.
You can create an accountability chart for today & yes your name will be featured in many roles and then draw out a plan for your agency in 12-18 months time. Share your future plans with your team and get their input, then in your one to ones with each person ask them which roles they see themselves in, in the future.
Do you know if you've got it all sorted in your agency?
Having consistent sales pipeline and revenue coming into your agency is an absolute essential. If you are the rainmaker in your agency full time, you need to make a plan to hire a full-time sales person in your business to create a robust forecast and be consistently generating leads, making connect calls and meeting prospects every business day.
If it is starting to look like your next hire should be in account management, design, or development it might be a good idea to outsource to a company like MPull who can help you with your customer projects, design and development until you have enough clients to support a full-time person. If you are hiring a full-time person set up a 3-6 month training program to allow time for Onboarding, training, learning, and doing certifications.
At the end of the probation period you can decide if the person is staying on with your agency or if they have not been performing or a good fit, you can then decide next steps.
Find out why having processes in place can help your team be more successful with customers.
Many local colleges, universities or councils might have an intern program that you can participate in where you can avail of a qualified, experienced and eager to learn person for a lot less than making a full-time hire. The intern could take on project work, create processes and procedures for your agency and help out the other team members while they learn. At the end of their time with you they might turn out to be a good fit for your business, and you can employ them full time.
Definitely book time away from the office with your business partner/coach/mentor and work through all these steps with a goal of deciding your next three hires in the coming 6 to 12 months.
If you need any help in deciding your next hire or any other challenges in your agency drop me a line - clodagh@growitgroup.com.