THE SUCCESS STORY
THE SOCIAL CIRCLE
From chaos to clarity:
How a custom consult helped The Social Circle build the framework + standardized systems they desperately needed after a year of rapid expansion.
THE CLIENT
The Social Circle
CREATIVE AGENCY
DIRECTORS:
Danielle McNeill + Alexis Young
About
The Social Circle is an all-in-one creative marketing + communications digital agency helping you get it done, and look good doing it.
The Goal
Founded in 2019, The Social Circle has been scaling their agency in a big way over the past year – growing their team, space and capacity. With growth comes growing pains, and they needed a driving force to help them formalize their operating structure and bring their vision for the future to life.
The Analysis
Areas Requiring Support:
Sales - 6/10
Services - 5/10
Project Management - 8/10
Operations - 10/10
Financial Management & Admin - 5/10
People Management - 9/10
Business Development - 7/10
Workflow bottlenecked at Director level
Policies + procedures were not documented resulting in a lack of clarity for the team
Disjointed communication resulted in extended project timelines
Minimal staff onboarding + training procedures
Sales + client processes not capturing ideal clients
Clear organizational structure
Standardized operating procedures
Streamlined processes + communication
Onboarding + training procedures
Enhanced client experience
THE PAIN POINTS:
WANTS & NEEDS:
“We saw the work Sara did with other agencies and loved that she offered step-by-step guidance, not just to do the job for us, so we could become better leaders for our team and business”
WHY SARA?
The Solution
The Full Consult
A custom fit solution for an established business on the move
Client Needs
Over 5 Months
The Results
Clear roles + responsibilities for every team member
New employee onboarding system
New employee training system
New project post-mortem process
6-month roadmap
01
Organizational Restructuring
Clear overview of business
Clear organizational structure
02
Operating Procedures
127 SOPs
New workflows + automations
03
Streamlined Processes
04
Empowered Team Members
Structured feedback systems
New resources
for team learning
05
Sales + Comms Support
New weekly + quarterly Director update meeting format
Clear + measurable organizational objectives
The Process
Over 5 months, we created + conquered their business ‘to-do’ list
01
-
Kickoff
Conducted internal analysis
Compiled results, identified key areas of opportunity and created tailored workflow and content for consult
02
-
Surveyed staff to identify sales pain points, compiled results, created goals for new sales workflow, and developed Sales SOPs
Created Sales templates and automations to support new workflows.
03
-
Surveyed staff to identify Project Management pain points, compiled results, developed new workflows for each service offering, and created new Project Management SOPs.
04
-
Adjusted roles, responsibilities, and tech to support new workflows.
05
-
Identified learning and development opportunities for team
06
-
Assessed staffing projections and knowledge/skills required for each role, reviewed current employee training and onboarding, and developed new onboarding program
Developed new training process for each role – outlining desired outcomes including skills and behaviours
07
-
Defined Admin and Operations SOPs
New weekly and quarterly project update meetings implemented for primaries
Developed project post-mortem process aimed at finding continual opportunities for improvements in workflow
08
-
Finalized operations plan
Created a 6 month timeline with clear, measurable objectives charted out to keep primaries on track following consult.
The Takeaways
01
Operational Improvements
+ Clarity
“The improvements we've made to our process and organization has been incredible and a total game changer for us as a business. How we do things and who we are is clearer than ever before and accessible to everyone on the team.”
02
Optimized Onboarding Process
“The onboarding workbook has been incredible for sharing who we are and what we do with our team – new and old. It has changed how we share company information for the better”
03
Clear + Measurable Obejctives
“The way Sara guided us through not only the task at hand, but the importance of each step, has instilled practices that we will carry through the lifetime of our business. These ways of working and leading are already making us better, so I can't imagine how far we can take this in the future. Skies the limit!”
04
Standard Operating Procedures
“The SOP templates and development process really showed us how to standardize procedures in a way that isn't fixed and has room to grow as we do”
The Results
“Since working with Sara the vision and understanding of who we are and what we do has become clearer not only for myself and Alexis, but for our entire team. With Sara's guidance we've been able to put how we see our business to paper, giving everyone more confidence to do what they do best. We would recommend Sara to anyone looking to refine and elevate their business' capabilities. Her ability to come in, understand what you're after and translate that to actionable improvements is so undeniably valuable.”
Ready to discover your business’ potential?
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