Hire Slow & Fire Fast: Investing Time in Building Your Agency Team with Bryant Walker | Ep #728

Smart Agency Masterclass with Jason Swenk: Podcast for Digital Marketing Agencies

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Have you ever rushed your hiring process out of eagerness to fill a position and delegate responsibilities? Did you later regret the decision to hire fast? There is a reason they say hire slow, fire fast. Finding the right people to fill the roles on your growing team is an integral part of growing. In this interview, learn from one agency owner who takes immense pride in cultivating a core team that shares his vision. However, getting there has not been without its challenges. One of the most valuable lessons he learned is that hiring takes patience and a well-structured process. Check out this thoughtful discussion on the importance of having the right people in the right positions to ensure success and peace of mind as the agency expands.

Bryant Walker is the founder and CEO of Tavo Media Group, a growing full-service agency with team members scattered around the country. He discusses the challenges and excitement of growing his agency and talks about the balance between intentional growth and losing control, emphasizing the importance of investing in the right talent for the right roles. Bryant shares insights on past hiring mistakes, particularly in account management and design roles, and highlights the ongoing learning process of finding the perfect fit for his team.

In this episode, we’ll discuss:

• The costly results of rushed hiring.

• A hiring process that guarantees better results.

• Investing in team building to cultivate commitment.

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Sponsors and Resources

E2M Solutions: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by E2M Solutions, a web design, and development agency that has provided white-label services for the past 10 years to agencies all over the world. Check out e2msolutions.com/smartagency and get 10% off for the first three months of service.

The Costly Mistake of Rushed Hiring

One of Bryant's early missteps in his agency was an overreliance on individuals who were ultimately not right for their roles. He has since learned that hiring is an exercise in patience and that acting impulsively leads to poor hiring decisions.

For instance, he hired senior designers based on their impressive portfolios without delving deeper into their actual roles and responsibilities in previous projects. This led to subpar results and a disconnect between the work he saw in the portfolios and the work being produced by the team.

In his eagerness to delegate responsibilities and focus on the agency's growth, Bryant granted too much autonomy while also delaying necessary corrective actions, which negatively impacted the quality of the agency's work.

After addressing this issue and making more informed hiring choices, Bryant has shifted his perspective on recruitment. He advocates for a more intentional approach, taking the time to find the right fit for the role and ensuring that the candidate has the necessary skills and experience to excel in the position and avoids making rushed decisions just to fill a position quickly.

When to Cut Ties: Addressing Underperformance Quickly

In cases like what Bryant’s senior designer situation, reluctance to fire quickly is a common reaction based on the fear of disrupting the team. Nonetheless, this can often lead to holding on to underperforming employees for longer than necessary.

Despite his efforts to foster productive discussions with these team members, Bryant ultimately found himself reverting to their tasks. In spite of this, he held on to those workers hoping it would eventually get better. Many times agency owners delay these decisions fearing that firing the wrong hires would result in more work for themselves and the rest of the team. However, letting go of the wrong talent sooner rather than later is essential for the growth and success of the agency.

Changing Your Hiring Process to Guarantee Better Results

To attract the most qualified candidates for a position, Jason recommends implementing a deliberate and strategic hiring process right from the job posting stage. When you advertise the position on any platform, include specific instructions—essentially "mouse traps"—that only attentive candidates will notice. For instance, leave instructions to email you with a specific subject line and send a video explaining why they want to work with you. This way, you’ll be able to quickly dismiss the applications that don’t meet these standards.

Next, focus solely on the applications from candidates who submitted a video and, after selecting the best ones, ask them to complete a paid test project. Only the candidates who submit that test get to move onto the following stage of the actual interview.

Normally, Bryant can get up to 800 applications for one job, which is already too many and will only fill up his inbox. Instead, by building a hiring process with strong and strict criteria, you’ll greatly reduce the number of applicants to those who truly deserve your attention, ultimately leading to interviews with candidates who are a better fit for your agency.

Once you’ve interviewed the candidates, have your preferred choice prepare a 90-day success plan. Will they truly make an impact in your agency in 90 days? Not really, but you can track their activity based on the plan. If they can’t even follow through with their own plan then they’re not the right choice for your team.

Investing in Team Building to Cultivate Commitment

To some business owners, investing in a team sounds like an unnecessary headache when they can just find freelancers to do the job. However, a dedicated and motivated team can have a huge impact on the overall success of a business.

Bryant has never taken more pride in growing his agency than now that he has found a core team that believe in his vision as much as he does. To him, the difference is evident in the work that’s put out compared to before when he was doing it alone.

Once he overcame his freelancer mentality, Bryant saw real change in the agency’s growth. By prioritizing the recruitment, development, and support of talented individuals who are aligned with the company's values, agency owners can build a strong foundation for growth and sustainability.

Setting Your Sales Team Up for Success

Implementing the Entrepreneur Operating System (EOS) as an organizational and accountability tool has greatly helped Bryant track employee’s road to success with a lot more intention.

He realized that having everything leading back to him made it impossible for the agency to scale so he hired new salespeople last year. However, it seemed none of them could close as many deals as Bryant could while he was still handling sales by himself.

In the beginning, salespeople need a lot of handholding and support, so having a system to share success stories and experiences can motivate and inspire them to perform at their best. Create a framework categorizing each story based on relevance so your team can something to draw from while developing their own stories and improve their sales techniques.

Moreover, managers can also debrief their team’s sales calls to step them up for success. Ask them to send you their best and worst sales calls of the week and provide helpful advice while also pointing out what they should keep doing. This hands-on approach not only helps in the initial training phase but also in continuously developing and refining the sales team's capabilities. Eventually, you’ll get them to a place where you’re no longer needed.

Hot to Stop Waiting for the Perfect Moment and Take Action

Finally letting go of sales has also helped Bryant embrace his “F*ck It, Let’s Do It” mode, which has become his mantra. With this mindset, he aims to be proactive and not wait for the perfect scenario to present itself before taking action. Instead, it stresses the need to make quick decisions, execute them, and learn from the results.

Looking back on his agency journey, Bryant mostly regrets the things he didn’t do and moments where he took too long to make a decision.

He now embraces the fact that indecision is the worst decision and strives to trust his instincts, make decisions confidently, and be willing to learn from both successes and failures. There’ll never be a “perfect” time to do something but there will always be a possibility to learn from something that didn’t go as planned.

Similarly, he’s also learning to say no to certain opportunities in order to protect the time and focus he dedicates to business growth.

By taking action, being intentional with your time, and surrounding yourself with the right people, you can set yourself up for success in both your personal and professional endeavors.

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