The One Problem that Processes and Systems Can't Solve

This is an “Agency Vision” episode of Agency Journey with no outside guest. Gray MacKenzie hosts, and Andrew Dymski, his ZenPilot co-founder, brought the topic: every agency needs processes and systems, so why do so many owners go looking for someone else’s checklist to copy? Andrew’s answer is that borrowed systems can’t tell you what your own proven process is. Gray pushes on what to do first when you’re drowning, and on the fear that keeps owners from narrowing down.

The magic swipe file doesn’t exist

Andrew opens by naming the feeling behind most of the search for processes.

There’s this thought or this feeling that there’s like some magic swipe file somewhere that I just haven’t opted into yet. It has all of the checklists that I need. And if I just download that thing and I look at that, that’s magically going to solve all of my business problems.

(Listen at 01:10)

Gray asks why that approach doesn’t hold up over time. Andrew compares it to chugging a double espresso: an hour or two of energy, then a crash.

The same thing is true with the swipe and deploy processes that are out there. They’re going to help you for a little bit. They’ll help you gain a little bit of clarity. But the one problem that that does not help you solve is what is your proven process.

(Listen at 03:32)

Start with who you serve and the problem they’re stuck in

For Andrew, the operations conversation starts with the client, not the checklist. Who are you serving, what are they stuck in, and what do you walk them through to solve it? He says ZenPilot missed this for a long time too.

We’ve got to know what’s the problem that we’re solving and who are we solving that problem for. And the focus from the beginning isn’t necessarily on the processes and the checklist, but it’s on where are they trying to go. And that’s where so many of us have missed the boat.

(Listen at 04:05)

In a market this crowded, he says, niching is no longer a question, and picking a niche isn’t enough on its own. The owner has to drop the presuppositions (you need Facebook ads, you need blogging) and do the homework on where that audience is trying to go. Systems come after.

Your job as the owner here is to map that journey from struggle to triumph for your prospect, for your client. Then systems and processes come in and allow that journey to be walked without you being the guide every single step of the way.

(Listen at 05:54)

Cheaper and faster is the wrong question

Gray describes the other path he hears about every day: an agency sells a service it can’t charge a premium for, so it goes hunting for a checklist to produce it faster.

How do I produce this cheaper and faster? Because that’s the only differentiator that I have… So what’s the blogging checklist that I need so I can do it cheaper and faster, so we can still make money on something that is really hard to charge a premium for?

(Listen at 06:29)

He’s careful to say templates and other people’s examples aren’t the problem. The question is whether you review them and use them as a jumping off point, or plug them in because “someone else did it, I’m not that good at this” and hope for a magic potion.

Buy yourself capacity first, then pick the clients to duplicate

Gray lays out what a struggling agency looks like on a first call. It calls itself an SEO agency or an inbound agency. Ask how many clients it has: 40. Ask how many match that description: three. The other 37 are each something different, and there’s no standardized process for that. So he asks Andrew: if that’s you, do you ignore systems for now or get a baseline in place first?

If you’re in a spot right now where you feel like you’re drowning, then first you need to buy yourself some mental space. So you need to put some basic processes in place that capture how you do what you do today… That exercise will buy you capacity within the first two to three weeks if you’re diligent about it.

(Listen at 12:55)

Andrew calls that a stopgap, “a bandaid on a bullet wound.” The long-term work is to grade your most successful clients, pick the two or three you want more of, and go find more like them. But the stopgap is what gives an owner room to think.

One of our clients is going through this process right now and said that the biggest takeaway that they’ve had so far, the biggest impact they’ve had so far, is their project manager talks to them once a day rather than 20 times a day. Just think about, you have 19 less interruptions in your day.

(Listen at 14:39)

The path of least resistance is also the path of greatest fear

Gray thinks documenting is the easy part. The hard part is the narrowing, and what holds owners back is fear: fear of building systems when you know you’re scattered, then a bigger fear when you actually pick a focus.

Let’s go look at any example of anyone who’s ever been successful. It’s been the most focused on mastering one thing until the end and stuck with it. And how successful are those people compared to the people who just can’t say no to anything?… It’s so odd. We all can see it in other people, but it’s scary to do it ourselves.

(Listen at 15:47)

His advice is to treat the fears as legitimate (where do I go, who do I focus on, what about the good client who doesn’t fit) and get help, whether that’s a coach, a program, or other owners who’ve made the switch.

It’s not really optional… This is the path of least resistance forward, but the path of greatest fear at the beginning.

(Listen at 16:54)

The episode closes with a preview of the Agency Journey Live lineup for April 17, 2019.