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Hey there - it's Brian 👋

Last week, one of my CEOs asked:
“How do I build my A-team?”

It felt like a straight-forward question. But a lot of people struggle to pull it off.

It’s because it’s hard to know what a marketing “A-Player” looks like when you’re not a marketer:

• They’re motivated differently
• They play different roles
• They’re hard to find

So I build these marketing systems for business owners.

And they’re always surprised by these 5 things for team building…

(Here’s a few favorites):
• Why you have to say no to great ideas
• Why you’re too late to look for talent
• How you estimate how expensive your meeting really is

Let’s explain the 5 things and make your business an outlier: 👇

I was shocked how much more there is to team building

I ran growth & marketing teams back in consulting. But talent was always handed to me.

When I built my own business I had to build my teams from scratch.

I was shocked how much was involved.

Things like:
• How do you find the team members?
• What processes do they run?
• How do you motivate them?
• Train them?

And how you get them aligned towards the mission so you get more customers through digital marketing.

And while I figured out this process I got burned. A lot.

So today I’ll share 6 lesser-known team building tips (that I learned through trial & error).

At the end, I’ll share a simple trick that stops others from distracting your team with random tasks (and keep your team more effective than anyone):

1) You have to say “no” to great ideas

You team may give you a great idea.

But when you have a specific goal (revenue, product launch etc) you need to say no to all ideas that don’t move the needle towards that goal.

Case study:

CEO wanted to make changes to the website:
• URL changes
• Website redesigns
• Changing headlines on blog posts

None are bad ideas. But only say “yes” to what moves the needle on your goals.

Quick Tip:

Here’s a tip to keep the business on track:
Add new ideas to a public priority list.

If someone wants to move their idea up the list they need a strong argument for why that idea get you closer to your goal than the idea it replaces.

2) You need to start looking for talent BEFORE you need it

Finding A-players is near impossible.

Only 5% of people are A-players. So there’s few available (and everyone fights for them).

Start building relationships with them 3 - 5 months before you need them.

Quick tip:

In the meantime, you can quickly find A-players if you get an agency or fractional work.

Most agencies are not good. Make sure you get a referral. (Email me if you need one).

Start with an outsourced A-team while you build and train your in-house A-team.

3) When times are tough, it’s your fault

When times are good, praise your team.

But when times are bad, protect your team.

Nothing gets a team more motivated to move mountains for you than feeling praised for what they do (& protected when things go wrong).

Example:

• Big update to leadership on great work we’ve done? I want someone on my team to send the update (& get the credit).

• Made a mistake and need to own up to it? I’ll send that message.

Case study:

We built more in 1 week than the previous CMO had built in 3 months.

No joke.

I was so proud of what we did so I helped one of the marketers pull together a summary to share our success with the CEO. The marketer sent it.

A few weeks later costs skyrocketed for our ad campaign. So I stepped in to send the update.

We ultimately contained costs and turned it into a positive (the higher cost came from better quality sources).

Praise your team in good times. Protect your team in bad.

4) A brilliant idea, not communicated well, is just an okay idea.

If you create 12/10 value, but your team receives messaging that makes it sound like 5/10…

You’re perceived at 5/10.

Communication is the highest ROI skill you can do. But it feels so low value because we’re not building.

Don’t just send updates with the tasks you checked off. Craft each story and communicate the value you create.

Case study:

I had been consistently sharing updates on the project, but realized the CEO wasn’t reading all the details in an email.

Doesn’t matter how great I do if he doesn’t know what happened.

So I switched to updating via Loom video. That’s how he best receives the message.

Your job isn’t finished when you hit send on the email. Make sure the message is received how you intend it.

5) Your team’s attention is expensive

When one of my CEOs asks the team to do something, I always ask:
“Yes, but at what cost?”

The answer is usually your team’s time + attention.

What does your team stop working on because of this request?

Quick tip:

Considering a meeting?

Come up with hourly rates for each team member. Then, put an actual financial cost to a meeting.

For hourly rates:
Say the average employee is $50k / year. There’s roughly 2k working hours per year so…
$50k / 2k hours = $25 an hour.

Imagine 5 people meeting on your team.

Think: Is the meeting worth $125?

If not, try an email or Loom video.

Your team will feel you value their time.

There’s a lot that goes into building a team

Building a team is hard.

But do it right and the leverage you can create makes your big vision for your business achievable.

See you next Thursday 👋

Brian
Twitter
LinkedIn

P.S. Want personalized feedback on your marketing efforts for free?

I’ll check out your SEO, ads, socials, & landing pages. Then, I’ll give you a list of small changes you can make to get big results (paying customers).

If your business is over $3M in revenue, grab time for free.

🙋 Vote: How did we do?