Ready to make some tough strategic decisions at your agency, but need some tips on where to start? Read on!
In my work, I’ve noticed certain strategic decisions that occur in many agencies. Each scenario is unique… but there are similarities in how to approach the decision process.
Last week, I shared my 5-step framework for making hard decisions—around narrowing your options to 2-3 finalists, writing an Advance Retrospective visualization for each one, and seeing which one feels right.
Today, I’ll share 10 step-by-step examples, to help you start thinking about solving your specific challenge(s). Those examples are:
Read on for my step-by-step advice on each agency-specific example!
Difficult strategic decisions: 10 agency examples
These 10 scenarios reflect what I typically see in my work as an agency consultant and coach. As a further shortcut, I’ve included 2-3 sample options for each scenario; of course, you’ll want to customize to your specific situation.
I’m confident you already know what you want—my decisionmaking framework helps you narrow the decision to make your choice(s) clear. As you can see in the 10th example, the decisionmaking process is flexible—you can use it to help you make nearly any hard decision as an agency owner.
Note that some of the questions include the loaded word “should.” In theory, there’s no should, but I hear it often from clients. This involves a mindset shift—you can do almost anything you want at your agency, because it’s your business.
Example #1: “Should I sell my agency, keep running it, or just shut it down?”
This existential question is a version of asking “What do I want to be when I grow up?” That is—do you want to be an agency owner, or do you want to move on to do something else?
The answer will be unique to you and your agency, and I’ve seen it shift for clients on an annual or even quarterly basis. The “shut it down” option tends to come up after agency owners face a series of setbacks that make them question whether it’s still worth it.
Here are examples of options to consider for this existential scenario:
In your Advance Retrospective for this scenario, I recommend looking 3-10 years in the future… or sooner (1-3 years) if you’re feeling antsy about it.
Wondering how much your agency might sell for? I recommend you hire fellow agency consultant David C. Baker for his in-depth agency valuation service.
Example #2: “Should we be a generalist or specialist agency?”
On its face, this question is partly about choosing specialization(s)… but it’s also about the kind of agency you want to run. Some of my clients are happy running generalist agencies… but I find specialist agencies tend to make more money while making the owners less-stressed. Vertical specialization also helps you expand beyond your geographic region, to find the best clients regardless of location.
Here are some options to consider for the “generalist vs. specialist” positioning scenario:
In your Advance Retrospectives for this scenario, I recommend looking 2-4 years in the future. There are things you can do to accelerate the process—but even if you make a decision today, it’ll take time to transition. For instance, you’d need more time if you ultimately choose to go from full generalist to full specialist. especially if it’s a specialty where you have limited current experience.
Example #3: “Which client industry should I choose as our agency specialization?”
Once you’ve chosen to specialize, you need to pick which specialty (or specialties) to pursue. This article will help… but it helps to choose the general direction first.
Here are some options to consider for the “which vertical” positioning scenario:
In your Advance Retrospectives for this scenario, I recommend looking 2-4 years in the future. There are things you can do to accelerate the process—but even if you make a decision today, it’ll take time to transition. For instance, you’d need more time if you ultimately choose to go from full generalist to full specialist. especially if it’s a specialty where you have limited current experience.
Example #4: “Do I still want to do client-facing work?”
This question is an extension of the existential “What do I want to be when I grow up?”—but it focuses more on the nature of your day-to-day role. After all, our day-to-day workload tends to impact how we feel about running our business, since we’re not making purely strategic decisions 24/7.
Here are some options to consider for this scenario:
In your Advance Retrospective for this scenario, I recommend looking 1-2 years in the future; that’ll give you time to create and implement a transition plan. Among other things, consider:
necessary rather than merely needed
). But that might not be an issue if you don’t intend to sell (example #1 above).
For most agency owners, there’s an inherent “part 2” to this scenario—read on for example #5.
Example #5: “Can I trust my current team to handle more client-facing work?”
This question is ostensibly about your team… but it’s also about whether you trust people. Delegation requires people who can do the work. But I sometimes see agency owners struggle to “let go,” even when their team has the Desire, Competence, and Capacity to take on your old workload.
Once you’ve answered the core question in example #4 above, here are some options to consider for this scenario:
In your Advance Retrospectives for this scenario, I recommend looking 6-18 months in the future, to allow time for potential leadership transitions (but don’t wait forever).
Beware that examples #4 and #5 may lead to further questions! For instance, I observed the following progression in a single phone call:
As her “homework” for our next coaching call, I assigned her to explore example #1 (sell vs. keep running the agency) first—a hard question that made the other decisions a lot easier.
Example #6: “Should I hire an internal or external successor as agency CEO?”
This question is about trust, but it’s also a review of your current succession planning process. You might consider options like this:
In your Advance Retrospectives for this scenario, I recommend looking 2-3 years in the future. That’ll give you time to create and implement a plan, including if you need to hire externally or if you need to ramp-up a current employee to step into the role.
It’s ultimately about looking at whether a current employee has the potential to become the CEO (with you as Chair), or you stay as CEO in title, but they run everything day-to-day as “President” or “COO.”
Example #7: “Should I fire ?”
The answer is easy: Yes, fire the toxic client ASAP—they’re driving away your best employees, making your life miserable, and potentially putting your business’s future at risk.
If the client in question is more than 20% of your business (aka a Client Concentration problem), you’ll want to replace the revenue first… or risk layoffs when the revenue disappears. But “do nothing” is still risky—consider that the revenue could disappear suddenly anyway, if the toxic client chooses to fire you first.
This is really a question about how soon to fire the client. Consider these options:
In your Advance Retrospectives for this scenario, I recommend looking 3-6 months in the future, or longer if you’d need to replace a lot of revenue first.
Which of the options feels best? Which is most pragmatic? The right choice is probably somewhere in between those two.
Example #8: “Should I fire ?”
Again, the answer is easy: Yes, fire the Wet Twine employee ASAP—the longer you tolerate their terribleness, the more your great New Rope employees consider quitting. And I bet they’re a key contributor to your stress as an agency owner.
This is really a question about how soon to terminate the problematic employee. Consider these options:
In your Advance Retrospectives for this scenario, I recommend looking 3-12 months in the future; if you make a decision today, it’ll take time to transition.
Ultimately, the problematic Wet Twine employees are fighting your ability to reach your long-term personal and business goals. As I asked one of my clients, “Would you trust so-and-so to invest your retirement account?” Not surprisingly, the answer was a strong “No”—but that’s kind of what you’re doing, considering your agency is likely your #1 or #2 financial asset.
Example #9: “When do I want to retire?”
Your ideal retirement date will likely evolve over time. During his intake process, my financial planner—Russell Kroeger, CFP®, EA—asked me when I wanted to retire. (Compared to the many other financial planners I considered, I love that Russell’s intake process felt more like life coaching than an endless list of financial questions.)
My initial reaction was something like, “I have no idea!” In high school, I wanted to retire early—in my 40s like my dad did (although his Army pension made that easier). I love my work—so why would I want to stop? As a management consultant, my grandfather continued working into his late 70s. I picked my mid-60s as a placeholder.
Here are some options to consider for this scenario:
In your Advance Retrospectives for this scenario, I recommend looking 10-20 years in the future. That might feel like a long time, but this decision works best when you’re “looking back” from a more distant future, since it helps you put yourself into a long-term mindset.
Example #10: “I have a different, unique situation; how do I decide?”
What if you’re facing hard decisions that aren’t among the examples above? That’s OK— you can still use the five-step decisionmaking process. To recap: identify potential directions, narrow them to 2-3 options, write an Advance Retrospective for each finalist, reflect on which one feels best, and draft a “version 0” plan to get there.
As you build your list of “no more than 3” options, consider extremes plus a moderate option:
You might ultimately pursue a direction that’s between an extreme and a moderate… but starting with the extremes makes it easier to see which way you “lean.”
Question: What’s your next agency strategy decision?
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