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A siloed department is helping Radioactive PR reap the benefits of a new partnership

Radioactive PR Rich Leigh
Rich Leigh created a separate department to manage the influx of new clients

A new referral partnership just came to fruition for Radioactive PR after months of conversations. In the last two weeks, it has led to 15-20 new clients and founder Rich Leigh believes there’s potential for hundreds more. 

After running the business at a loss for three months during lockdown, Rich is excited at the opportunity to win new business and scale. However, he recognises that a sudden increase in demand could quickly overwhelm the company’s processes.

“It’s not an entirely different service, so the current team could manage it and do the job very well. But, like any new area of revenue, I need to be smart about this because growth can become a real headache if you don’t manage the processes and structure well enough,” he added.

Decide who will manage new areas of revenue

Rich’s solution has been to create a new department, which will solely manage clients that come through the partnership. Recruitment was the last thing on his mind a month ago, but he’s now hired someone to manage the project and expects to hire again if referrals continue to grow.

He hopes that the department will prevent his existing team from being pushed to breaking point.

“The opportunities are potentially sprawling. In my head, it looks like a detective’s wall with all that red string. There’s so many times a week where we’re having good conversations now, but it just needs managing properly.

“I think I’m in the right place by creating this silo department, because otherwise what will happen is that the team will get this massive influx of new business. You’ve got people just back off furlough and people who’ve already got clients that didn’t pause. The team being stretched was a massive concern of mine.”

Look for ways to improve existing processes

Setting up the silo department has encouraged Rich to think about the company’s processes for handling new business and how they could be improved.

“One of my senior employees supports me a lot with new business. She’s a character that will pick up more than she can carry and, inevitably, things will get dropped because we’re human. But that doesn’t benefit us in the long term.

“It’s having a conversation and saying, you don’t need to do that. Here’s a process or structure I’m going to put in place where you won’t feel like you have to. It’s important because I know I’d be the same – I’d be saying yes to every call too, but it doesn’t help. We need to put the process in place.”

Establishing stronger supply chains and partnerships calls for some familiar skills in a tough new setting. Download our guide for great tips, helpful checklists and realistic next steps.

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