The people pipeline

Recruiting and retaining talent is one of the top issues agencies face at any time, but at the moment it's particularly hard work.

One way to help smooth this out is to approach finding and attracting great people in the same way you approach finding great clients: by nurturing a healthy pipeline.

That means you need marketing activity to your ideal target audience to build awareness — events, newsletters, sponsorships, PR and more. Network widely (not just with mates) and make personal connections. Nurture those connections into relationships. Then seek to find a good match when the time is right.

The days of agencies winning a new project then just shouting for talent and great people rocking up on the doorstep are over.

Now, a healthy agency needs to deliberately nurture a healthy people pipeline.