Tom Smith is managing director of Complete, an award-winning UK digital marketing agency based in Blackpool which is working with Two Zero through the Scaleup Leaders Network.
Founded in 2009, Complete aim to provide a high-quality service, encouraging the formation of digital partnerships with clients to allow them to reach their full potential online.
Here, Tom shares his top tips for scaling businesses.
What is the most important quality of a scaleup business leader and why?
Growth – As a scale up business leader, everything you do has to be focused on growth and becoming better – whether that be through learning new skills or reflecting on your business goals.
Reflection helps you to identify elements that are going well and recognise where things may need adapting.
How have you grown and developed as a scaleup leader?
My business started out as a one-man band working alongside various freelancers, which worked at the time but wasn’t allowing me to grow the business how I wanted to.
Today, we have an amazing team of in-house creatives, with a specialist on hand for every service we offer.
As a business leader, recruitment can be challenging. After all, you’re putting the success of your business into the hands of others. Regularly recruiting in line with client demand has allowed me to become more confident and develop more of the skills needed to be a leader.
How do you inspire and empower your people?
In recent years, I have placed a lot of focus on empowering my team. As well as supporting them with professional development through courses and webinars, I also provide a range of well-being initiatives.
Each full-time member of staff receives a monthly well-being allowance that can be used for a membership to benefit their wellbeing, such as a gym membership or audio subscription.
Additionally, each staff member is given a sunny day separate to their holiday allowance and we organise regular team building activities outside of the office. Since providing these initiatives, I have received great feedback from staff and morale has increased too.
I am very passionate about supporting my staff and encourage them to bring their own ideas to the table regarding client projects.
What is the best piece of business advice you have received and why?
Success doesn’t happen overnight – a simple saying with a lot of meaning. This has taught me the importance of being bold and persistent in everything I do. If something goes wrong, it’s taught me not to give up at the first hurdle, but instead to keep going and view everything as a stepping stone in life.
Eventually, you can reach your goals and then keep striving for the next ones!
What is the biggest lesson you have learned on your business journey, and how has this impacted you?
The biggest lesson I have learnt so far is the importance of planning and setting goals. Without a plan, it’s hard to establish the right direction. I think working together is so important, which is why I ensure that my team are involved with the planning process. This allows us to be transparent and realistic.
Regular goal setting has allowed us to scale up steadily over the years.
What scaleup business do you admire the most and why?
Running a digital agency means that we work with so many incredible businesses all over the world. Some of the qualities that we have come across and admire include strong communication skills, a willing to learn and resilience. It’s great to work alongside like-minded individuals.
What key metrics do you look at everyday in your business?
Ensuring that everyone in the team is happy and has the resources they need to complete projects is key to every day. I also monitor KPIs, such as proposals sent, deals closed and meetings held. All of these metrics allow me to monitor our conversion rates.
I have also integrated project management software Asana into our practices so that we can measure the time taken on projects and assess the profitability of our services.
What is the legacy you want to create?
I’m a strong believer in that if you work hard, the results will come. That doesn’t mean that you get things right the first time every time, but it means that you’re learning. I have always wanted to create a happy place to work where creativity has no limits.
In addition to creating a great place to work, I want Complete to be known for our honest and transparent approach. We make communication a priority with all clients, which enables us to achieve impressive results. I’m very proud of what we have achieved so far.