6 tips you need to build a winning
senior team for your agency
You’ve put in the hard yards and grown your agency to a healthy turnover and client base - now it’s time to take some of the pressure off and bring in some added expertise to your business.
Here’s your to-do list for taking your agency to the next level with a high-performing senior team.
1. Plot out the skills and specialisms you need
You might decide that once you reach a certain number of employees you’ll hire a HR manager, or at a certain amount of revenue you’ll bring in a finance director. Map out the priority top-level skills that you’re aware are missing in your current setup and that you can’t fulfil - you can’t do everything forever! A key role to think about is sales - agencies with a full-time, in-house sales resource perform better than those that rely solely on their directors to bring in new business.
2. Identify internal candidates to nurture and develop
While a first instinct may be to call in a recruiter or look outwards, it’s often much easier to upskill existing members of your team who already understand the business and are invested in your success. It could be that you think someone is particularly suited to line management or has shown an interest in moving into a new area of the business. If you think you’ve got a team member who would be suited to your senior team, it’s time to discuss their long-term ambitions and expectations, and if any additional training will be required.
3. Set the culture from the top down
Having a senior team in place will give you more opportunities to create a more formalised set of principles or values for your business, which can then help with recruitment down the line. What is at the core of the business, and how do you want everyone in the business to interact with both your clients and other team members? You’ll already have an idea in mind of the sort of business you’ve created and the culture you want to encourage among your team, and it’s imperative that your senior team live and breathe it too.
4. Rewards and incentives
Once you’ve settled on the senior roles you need, you’ll need to research competitive salaries and benefits packages to ensure you attract the best talent. If budgets are tight, incentive schemes can be a great way to make roles more attractive, and can be rolled out across all levels of the business.
Balancing salary increases with other benefits will put the business in a healthier cash position, which is much more sustainable in the long run.
5. Reflect new seniority of roles in billing
As you grow your team and create more levels of seniority and expertise, it’s important to start reflecting this in what you charge to clients. Rather than setting a flat fee for services, adjust it based on the seniority of the person undertaking the work. Tiered pricing allows you to charge more based on the expertise you’re offering – something that’s important if you’re bringing in senior staff on high salaries.
6. Let your team do their thing, you focus on strategy
It can be hard to take a step back once you’ve got your senior team in place, but this is what you’ve been working towards, and handing over more responsibility will give you more time to focus on the bigger picture. Having that buffer of a senior team means there’s less pressure to always be on hand for meetings or the day-to-day running of the business, so you can establish a better work-life balance.
Get more tips on building a successful team
Read more of our recommendations for how you can evolve your company, engage your team and bring in new levels of seniority, allowing you more time to focus on the bigger picture. Download the guide and start the next era of your agency.
