When to Let Go of Owner-Led Business Development at a Small Agency
Photo by Josue Isai Ramos Figueroa via Unsplash
I’ve been thinking a lot about owner-led business development at small agencies, specifically whether, when or how an agency owner should hand the responsibility to others.
I personally believe that the owner (most often also the founder) of a small agency is the best business development resource that an agency has and I’ve built my consultancy around that belief for a few reasons.
The agency owner is the agency's most enthusiastic and persuasive booster. They are the best equipped to tell their story and light up a prospect’s imagination with their vision and their commitment.
Most small agency owners don't have anyone else on their team who can interact with prospects with the same sense of authority when making the pitch.
The owner can respond directly to a prospect's questions or concerns, which means they’re more likely to advance the sale and close the deal faster.
But I get it, growth is about scaling and delegating. But when is the right time to hand over business development responsibilities? And what exactly makes sense to hand over? I started thinking about these questions in relation to some of my clients and ended up sketching out a pyramid illustrating a theoretical journey an agency might take as it goes from 100% reliance on owner-led sales to almost no involvement by the owner.
Your journey will be unique to you, of course, but there are common indicators and transition points that can guide you as you make your way to the top.
100% owner-led
When an agency owner finds themselves at the bottom of the pyramid, 100% responsible for revenue generation, it’s probably because the agency is tiny—less than five people and maybe just one, the owner.
The owner is saddled with everything related to sales and marketing—the website, writing case studies, building the prospect list, doing the outreach, creating expert content. And, no big surprise, they have a ton of other responsibilities too, like delivering great work for their clients.
If this describes you, where must you spend your precious time to bring in new revenue?
The first place is your positioning strategy. This is the foundation that will support you and evolve with you as you grow. Don’t persuade yourself that you don’t need one given your size. It will make it so much easier to move up the pyramid.
Next, make critical choices. You do not have a lot of extra time on your hands to experiment with a range of approaches, my friend. Focus on your existing network, especially those people and businesses that have the ability to yield exponentially more relationships. Examples are trade associations or complementary service providers (a web hosting platform, for example, if you are a digital design agency) who serve the same audience as you and could also benefit from your partnership.
75% owner-led
When you have a team of five or more people, you’re probably in a position to hand off some responsibilities to others so that your biz dev activities can scale up and yield more without taking more of your time.
At this stage you want to maximize what you’re already doing consistently and successfully to fill the pipeline and generate leads. Don’t expect to be able to delegate some of the higher-skilled nuanced tasks like sales calls and closing conversations or even taking the lead on writing proposals or marketing content. In other words, you’ll want to keep close to you any activity that relies on telling your story well.
Instead, hand off the administrative stuff—and there’s a lot of it in a successful sales and marketing operation! Get someone to help you keep your CRM database up to date or manage other parts of your sales tech stack; delegate proofreading or document formatting; have someone else manage your social media scheduling; or hire a virtual assistant to research conferences you should be attending and arrange travel.
50% owner-led
When you’ve expanded beyond the 10-person mark, you want to scale business development by bringing in team members with complementary new business skills to yours.
As you start to think about the gaps you want others to fill, consider your own professional strengths first. When I work with agency owners, I ask them to consider which of four New Business Strengths profiles, a Communicator, Connector, Promoter, or Thinker, they feel most aligned to. Once we have the answer, we can build a plan, in part, around them.
Retain the stuff you’re good at and delegate the stuff you hate but know is effective. In other words, if you have a gift for networking but drop the ball when it comes to following up with consistency, then assign someone to do the follow up. Or, if you’d rather be hosting a podcast or presenting your big ideas to a receptive audience, then get someone else to help you turn subscribers or keynote attendees into leads.
Some agencies start flirting with the idea of hiring a dedicated business development person at this stage, but do so cautiously. It can be time-consuming and expensive to hire and onboard a new business person when you’re not ready for it. And how do you know if you’re ready?
An important indicator is how persuasively someone other than you can tell your agency’s story. And a lot of this depends on the clarity of your core pitch or value proposition (which is why it’s so important to figure it out early). Be honest with yourself about the viability of your pitch. I have a list of six criteria I use with my clients when we’re testing the strength of their elevator pitch. We ask, is the positioning statement:
Succinct?
Targeted?
Repeatable?
Accurate?
Flexible?
Distinctive?
When you can answer “yes” to all without kidding yourself, then you’re ready to share your storytelling role with others on your team.
25% founder-led
This is the place most small agency owners want to get to—when 75% of business development activities are being handled by someone other than them. And climbing the rungs of the pyramid prepares you to do that.
You’ve probably got a headcount of 25 or more people. Up to this point, you’ve focused mostly on filling the gaps, first by handing off admin tasks around basic revenue-generating activities to finding a groove for yourself where you feel most comfortable and motivated.
This is the stage where you want to deepen that groove. You’re going beyond simply filling the gaps and seeking support to get the job done. You’ve established a new business approach based on your strengths and, if you’ve been successful so far, you can begin scaling your team with roles that complement your role, taking leadership over the areas where you are less strong.
Let’s take a theoretical example of an owner who has steadily grown awareness for her agency through her podcast. She’s built a loyal following and enjoys a steady stream of leads filling her pipeline because of it (she’s a Communicator through and through).
To get to the next level of growth, the solution isn’t to do more of what she doesn’t want to do but to complement her strengths. That might look like hiring a full time business development person who excels at building one-to-one relationships (a Connector Profile). Or it might mean hiring an outside publicist to help her raise her professional profile in ways she couldn’t do on her own (and still run her agency).
10% founder-led
As anxious as you may be to place the responsibility of sales on someone else’s shoulders, I would never advise you to leave business development 100% to others. There are some new business activities you always retain.
The first is nurturing your closest and highest-yield relationships. These may be clients, strategic partners, friends, mentors, or vendors. And it’s as much about what you can do for them as what they can do for you. Don’t take these valuable relationships for granted (and if you’re one of those who is weak on the follow-through, assign someone else the task of keeping you on track).
The second is being a consistent contributor to your industry. What this means for you will depend on your strengths and the capabilities your agency offers. If you are lucky enough to have built a new business engine strong enough to run almost without you, it’s time to explore new ways to make your mark in your profession that will have a benefit to you, your employees, and the businesses you serve.