At some point in your agency’s lifespan, you need to update its systems. Your team expands, roles change, you take on more clients, you add more offers. The more your agency evolves, the more important systems updates become!
The thought of updating systems in your agency might be overwhelming, but trust us, it doesn’t have to be. You don’t need to give your agency a complete makeover all at once. You can update systems piece by piece, with minimal disruption to your workday. Read on below to find out how.
First, think about your agency’s goals. They could be immediate (for the current or next quarter) or long-term. Then, think about your agency’s pain points. What’s causing the most stress? What’s holding your team back from accomplishing said goals?
Address the systems involved in both first to make the biggest impact on your agency. Don’t make the mistake we did below.
One of our quarterly goals earlier this year was to increase cash flow. To do that, we wanted more leads and more conversions. But…I wanted to focus on our systems for when clients came in. What was that intake and onboarding process like? Who was involved? Was it efficient?
I was focusing the wrong energy on the wrong place! What we should have done right off the bat is focus on our leads pipeline and sales process.
To bring in more clients, you have to think about bringing in more clients! Instead, I was thinking about how to improve efficiency after we got those clients. Still important, but it could wait. I was simply too many steps ahead and not fixing the pain point at hand.
Pro Tip: Stay on top of your goals in ClickUp by adding them to a List!
After you’ve taken care of those high-impact systems, look at the rest of your current systems. Look for opportunities to improve. These aren’t necessarily pain points, but workflows that can be better and more efficient.
Ask yourself, where are the bottlenecks? What’s taking up the most time and energy? What’s slipping through the cracks?
Then, think about what you need to set yourself up for success.
If you’re unintentionally slowing down a process because you have too much on your plate, can you delegate tasks and next steps to someone else on your team? If something is taking too much time, can it be automated? Outsourced? Is there a better tool that can do the job faster?
Creating systems that work takes honesty, strategy, and a little patience!
So far we’ve talked about internal workflows that affect your team, but don’t forget about your client-facing workflows! It’s important to update backend workflows so that you and your agency can do your best work. It’s also important to consider your client-facing workflows, like:
All of these client-facing workflows and more build your client experience. How you interact with your clients, take care of their needs, and communicate with them matters. The systems you use to do these things matter!
An outdated onboarding process, for example, can give off a bad first impression for a new client. If your process takes too long, is unclear, or inefficient, it won’t instill a lot of confidence in your agency’s abilities.
Systems updates are never a one-and-done job! As your agency grows, your systems will change. To keep it running at peak performance, continuously evaluate how your systems are working. Have a plan for implementing future updates as efficiently as possible.
Build your systems review process into your calendar. Set regular “appointments” to review and audit your systems.
Want systems updates to run as quickly and smoothly as possible? Of course you do. Having SOPs ensures that you and your team cover all your bases with every update. We like to house our SOPs in ClickUp so that they’re easily accessible.
Remember that scheduling systems maintenance and updates is super helpful. If you can be proactive and fix a pain point before it becomes a problem, that’s awesome. But much of the time — speaking as an agency ourselves! — you’ll have to take things as they come. Give yourself grace and have a plan for fixing systems ASAP when they break unexpectedly.
It’s not enough to simply have systems and processes in your agency. To reap the benefits of those business systems, they need to work well! Your systems should always make your agency more efficient, more productive, and more scalable. If they’re not, they might be in need of an update.
Short on time and looking for a complete systems update for your agency? Meet the ClickUp Agency Accelerator!
The Agency Accelerator is a brand new program that’ll help you transform your agency in just 12 weeks. If you want your workflows optimized and ClickUp customized by experts, then the Accelerator is for you!
We’re taking just 10 people total into our beta program, and spots are filling up fast. Find out if Agency Accelerator is a good fit for you and save your spot here!
