This is the biggest roadblock to scaling an agency

When agencies grow to $100K-$200K in revenue per month, they hit a pivotal but often invisible barrier: the lack of effective management and accountability systems. 

At this stage, many agencies rely on brute-forcing sales and marketing to grow. 

But the cracks begin to show. A minor misstep in sales or overloading the team in their capacity or skill set starts to result in churn, profit losses, and/or stalled momentum.

Hey, I’m Nick Avaria, agency owner, and founder of Agency Acquisitions. If you’re an agency owner who is ready to scale to 7 & 8 figures you’re in the right place.

If you’re on LinkedIn, and we’re not already connected, send over a request to get in touch.

#1 Roadblock to Scaling an Agency: Middle Management 

Here’s the real problem:

1. Lack of Clear Role Objectives: Employees often lack clarity on their top priorities or how success is measured. Without clear goals, confusion reigns, and progress stalls. Objectives must be rank-ordered and people should be able to repeat them back to you.

2. Weak Metrics and KPIs: Even if objectives are defined, they’re often missing measurable metrics. Worse, managers lack actionable KPIs (leading indicators) to help them course-correct early. 

3. No Standardized Management Systems: Without a system, accountability becomes subjective. You can’t manage what you can’t measure—or hold managers accountable if expectations aren’t standardized.

Why This Gap is Dangerous
A weak middle management layer is the top reason agencies fail to scale. This misstep leads to:

• Owners working 60+ hours a week, stuck in operational bottlenecks.

• Shrinking profit margins, even as revenue increases.

• Talent churn and inefficiency due to unclear expectations.

Imagine scaling from $120K/month with 30% profit to $200K/month—but watching your profit plummet to 10%. Sound familiar? This is the outcome of poor middle management systems.

The Fix: Objective, Metric, and KPI Systems
To unlock sustainable growth, every role in your agency must be tied to:

• Objectives (3-5 max): These should be clear and tied to job descriptions.

• Metrics: These measure success toward objectives.

• KPIs: These predict outcomes and allow early intervention.

• Dashboards: ensure managers have access to the metric and KPI data.

For example, a digital strategist’s objectives might include:

1. Objective: Client Retention

   • Metric: Client churn rate.

   • KPI: Net Promoter Score (NPS).

2. Objective: Client Results

   • Metric: Return on Ad Spend (ROAS).

   • KPI: Click-through rate (CTR).

Next week, I’ll break down how to coach managers effectively and introduce the Nine Gates Management Accountability Method—a proven framework for turning confusion into consistent momentum.

If you want to check this model out in detail watch the in-depth video here:

Could you use a support with getting KPI’s in place to support your middle management?

Book a time with me in the new year to see what metrics are holding your agency back from scaling.

Nick