Challenge
We’ve found that a critical issue is that many agency leaders struggle with setting a clear strategic direction, maintaining operational efficiency and stewarding the business on an ever-changing path towards their desired outcome.
To help you self-identify with the challenges this poses, have a go at answering the questions below in context of your own business and see what conclusions you draw.
| Question | Why it’s important |
|---|---|
| Are you finding it difficult to keep up with the changing demands of running your agency? | The agency landscape is constantly evolving and staying ahead requires adaptability and foresight. Recognising this challenge is the first step towards seeking solutions that can help you stay competitive. The second is to ensure you have the right experience across your senior team to steer your way. |
| How good is your plan to drive the business to realise your long-term goals? | A robust, strategic, fully featured plan is essential for guiding your agency towards its long-term objectives. Without a clear plan, efforts can become disjointed and less effective. We’ve found that most leaders have a 12-month view of the numbers they are aiming for but fail to have a detailed blow by blow action plan that will take them there. Fail to plan, plan to fail for sure in this industry. |
| Are you measuring and tracking the right things? | Tracking the right KPIs ensures that you are monitoring the most critical aspects of your business, allowing for timely adjustments and improvements. What are the right things? What do acquirers and investors care about? What does good look like? If you’re not sure then ask someone who is. |
| Do you suspect that things could be better but aren’t quite sure what they are or how to resolve them? | Your gut is probably already telling you things, but it’s hard to listen when you’re distracted or emotionally connected to the problem areas. Identifying areas for improvement is crucial for growth. External expertise and challenge can provide fresh perspectives and actionable insights to address these uncertainties -this is why most agencies take on some form of non- exec style support. Not just grey hair but also deep experience and insight. |
Exploration
Are you finding it difficult to keep up with the changing demands of running your agency?
- Are you enjoying what you’re doing most days – what might be preventing that?
- Is your business match fit (how do you compare to peers)?
- Do you have a granular plan that will lead the business to realise your long term goals?
- What’s keeps you awake at night?
- Do you suspect that things could be better but not quite know what they are or how to resolve them?
- What rigorous governance do you use to run and control your business effectively?
What we have found
Most leaders face similar challenges as they advance on their growth journey as their business scales and become more complex. They eventually seek external expert help to support them, help them make great decisions and to ensure their business thrives at pace.
Solution: What should you be doing? Develop a robust strategic plan that aligns with your long-term goals. Regularly measure and track key performance indicators (KPIs) to ensure you are on the right path, but importantly consider seeking external expertise to provide fresh perspectives and actionable insights earlier in the process than might feel natural. External experts offer fantastic value for money as they help identify blind spots and provide strategies to streamline operations ensuring sustainable growth and profitability, paying for themselves many times over.
Why it’s essential: Without a clear strategic direction and operational efficiency, agencies can quickly become overwhelmed and lose focus, performance stagnates or goes backwards and frustrations rise, client and colleague churn grows and management overhead is increased.
Waypoint can help you
Waypoint has a series of highly skilled and experienced professionals who have worked in and or run client side business and agencies. We have experts with executive experience that have worked all kinds of problems covering board advice, finance, operations, sales, talent, culture and M&A.
Have someone alongside your senior team who has already experienced the things in front of you and can help you to accelerate and reach your ambitions sooner.
Would you value having a seasoned expert alongside you providing strategic advice and support?
