{"id":15048,"date":"2022-07-21T08:25:00","date_gmt":"2022-07-21T12:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/?p=15048"},"modified":"2025-05-13T13:52:37","modified_gmt":"2025-05-13T17:52:37","slug":"hidden-opportunities-of-onboarding-an-agency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/hidden-opportunities-of-onboarding-an-agency","title":{"rendered":"The Hidden Opportunities of Onboarding an Agency"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Agencies don’t get it. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

They don’t know your business as you do. Agency onboarding is pointless; It would take too much time and effort to bring an agency up to speed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s not a viable strategy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the objection, isn’t it? You don’t have the time to provide an agency with the handholding they need to do their jobs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here’s the thing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your agency doesn’t need you as much as you think they do. Don’t misunderstand, your agency needs you to provide specific details. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They don’t need you to babysit them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You’re about to find out why. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The perceived challenges of agency onboarding<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"agency<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

What’s the enterprise perception of agency onboarding? Well, it’s viewed as slow, difficult, and incomplete. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why is that? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, let’s take a look. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

#1. A lack of speed <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Agencies require specific data, access to company resources, and access to key stakeholders, influencers, and support teams. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

All of this takes time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you’re part of an enterprise, you’re well acquainted with the chain of approvals system. The chain of approval is supposed to<\/em> function as a sort of checks and balances, ensuring that decisions are made by the right people at the right time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How is this approvals culture used? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’m sure you already know. Approval culture is a political tool that’s used to delay or deny responsibility. As I mentioned in my previous post<\/a>, “Much of the political footwork in an enterprise revolves around trying to avoid ownership<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Approval culture is a search for the decision-maker or team that extends approval and accepts responsibility. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Poor leaders delay or deny this decision to minimize responsibility (and consequences).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s sad but true. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

No one wants to accept responsibility or extend approval when there’s risk involved. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

#2. An unwillingness to share information<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Why are enterprises unwilling to share their information? There are two main causes for this. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Data silos:<\/strong> This is data that’s stored or controlled by a specific team, group, or department. Various groups store their data under lock and key. This becomes a problem if, for example, the agency needs data from the SEO and PPC teams, but neither group is willing to cooperate or share access to their siloed data. <\/li>
  2. Turf wars:<\/strong> Cambridge defines a turf war<\/a> as “a situation in which two or more people or organizations are in competition over an area of business or other activity.” From an agency standpoint, this could be an organizational battle for control to determine which team takes point with the agency or who has access to what. <\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Various departments maintain control over a repository of information they use to do their jobs. These data\u202fsilos are typically off-limits to outsiders (e.g., other people, teams, or depts). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Here’s the worst part.  The data silos in your organization grow as the quantity and diversity of the information you manage increases. This makes turf wars and internal politics worse<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    So what? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    How does this affect your agency? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    They’re viewed by everyone else as a member of your team. Nothing gets done if your agency fails to establish its firm as an objective third party. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    What can you do? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Is there anything that can be done to address these issues? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The role self-audits play in the onboarding process<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    What does your agency need from you? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Do you know?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Believe it or not, many organizations don’t know what their agency needs, even if they’ve worked with an agency before! These agencies understand SEO, PPC, email, or content marketing. They know their audience; they may even be aware of the overall performance of their campaign. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    It’s not enough.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    If you want to mitigate the onboarding challenges ahead of your agency, you’ll need to take action; I’m talking about pre-onboarding, onboarding, and self-audits. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Where do you start? You start with your thematic goal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    What’s that? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Patrick Lencioni outlines the strategies for overcoming these challenges in his book, Silos, Politics, and Turf Wars<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    They are as follows: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    1. A thematic goal: “<\/strong>A single, qualitative focus that’s shared by the entire leadership team — and ultimately the entire organization. It applies for a specific timeframe and typically uses verbs like — improve, reduce, increase, grow, change, etc.” No numbers, no quantitative details. That comes later. <\/li>
    2. A set of defining objectives:<\/strong> These objectives are also qualitative and tied to a specific timeframe. There are two types of objectives. (a.)<\/strong> Defining objectives that further explain the thematic goal and (b.)<\/strong> Standard operating objectives like customer satisfaction, expenses, productivity, quality, etc.<\/li>
    3. Key metrics: <\/strong>This comes into play once the legwork for the thematic goal and objectives are complete. These metrics are quantitative, but they should be relevant. It may be tempting to start here, don’t. Metrics can’t provide context by themselves. <\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

      What does this look like? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \"agency<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n