How Implementing EOS Fueled Fuelius' Growth And Efficiency with Paul Earnden
Dec 11, 2022
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Paul Earnden, Managing Director at Fuelius, discusses his agency's growth strategies and the implementation of the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS). He reveals how EOS transformed their operations and the essential roles of visionaries and integrators. The conversation dives into setting effective quarterly objectives, known as 'rocks', and how they optimized management tools by transitioning from spreadsheets to 90.io. Paul also shares insights on launching their new podcast, aiming at enhancing sales and marketing transparency.
The rebranding of Fuelius as a sub-brand aimed to clarify service offerings and minimize client confusion in targeted markets.
Implementing the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) enhanced operational efficiency by defining roles and promoting accountability within the leadership team.
Deep dives
Rebranding for Clarity
The agency rebranded from Proto to Fuelius to clearly delineate their two target audiences: a specific niche of about 600 companies in the UK and a broader inbound marketing audience making up the majority of their business. This rebranding aimed to minimize confusion among potential clients regarding the services offered, as the agency’s messaging was inconsistent across various platforms. By creating Fuelius as a sub-brand focused on growth initiatives, the company could better communicate its offerings without the duality that had previously existed. Despite the brand separation, the underlying structure of the agency remained unchanged, maintaining the same staff and legal entity.
Implementing EOS for Operational Efficiency
The agency adopted the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) to enhance operational efficiency and clarify roles within the leadership team. Initially, the implementation lasted two years, during which they recognized the necessity of including department heads in the discussions to address operational challenges effectively. The leadership team was structured according to functions rather than names, focusing on accountability for sales, service delivery, client retention, and financial operations. This change in approach refined the organization's function, leading to improved clarity and operational success.
Setting Achievable Goals with Rocks
The agency utilizes a rock-setting process during their quarterly reviews to identify critical objectives outside of business-as-usual activities. Each leadership team member contributes ideas for achievable goals, which are then prioritized through a 'Kill, Keep, Combine' method to distill down to a manageable number of key objectives. This structured approach involves issuing specific departmental rocks, allowing teams to take ownership of their responsibilities and directly link their goals to the agency’s overall vision and performance metrics. The emphasis is on maintaining focus and accountability across the entire organization with clear answers to 'what does each department need to accomplish in the next 90 days'.
Evolving Scorecard Metrics for Business Insight
The agency stresses the importance of scorecard metrics that provide leading indicators of performance rather than lagging results. By measuring key metrics, like the number of new marketing qualified leads, they can address issues proactively before they escalate. The leadership continues to refine their scorecard, allowing for adjustments that enhance its relevance and performance insight, and they remain flexible enough to discard metrics that no longer serve a purpose. This ongoing evaluation of their scorecard metrics supports a culture of accountability and continuous improvement, ensuring alignment with business goals.
In this episode of Agency Journey, Paul joins Gray to discuss what EOS is and how it significantly contributed to Fuelius' growth.
Paul Earnden is the Managing Director at Fuelius, an agency that works with scaling companies to provide end-to-end customer journey solutions. Fuelius offers a full suite of services, including CRM enablement, inbound marketing, and web development, designed to help scaling companies grow.
Topics discussed in the episode:
How Fuelius started and why it is a sub-brand of Prodo.
Fuelius' journey as a sub-brand and the challenges they faced as an agency.
Paul's role at Fuelius as a Managing Director and Integrator.
The difference between a visionary and an integrator and the importance of each role.
The story of how Paul was first introduced to the EOS at the HubSpot Inbound Conference.
A brief explanation of what is EOS?
Their experience with the EOS survey and the start of their journey implementing EOS for their agency.
Fuelius' implementation timeline, mistakes from implementing EOS, and the importance of involving the right people in the process.
What is an accountability chart, and how does it differ from an organizational setting?
How does the ROCKS setting look like for Fuelius, and what are ROCKS?
How Fuelius creates a scorecard and sets KPIs
The project management tool that Fuelius uses when they pivoted away from spreadsheets.
Fuelius' Tech Stack - what tools are they using that are unknown?
Launching Fuel Your Funnel Podcast and what's it about
Plans for Fuel Your Funnel Podcast
Presenting Sponsor: ZenPilot
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