The Four Roles You Need To Assign Within Your Business

We often hear about entrepreneurs as if they are standalone individuals making magic happen, rather than people with support behind them. But when people succeed in business or in life, you can bet there's a team of people working together to achieve the results.

Without a team, you'll fall into the typical trap of being self-employed: doing everything yourself, feeling guilty for taking holidays and finding it hard to switch off. To cultivate a successful team, you will need to assign four key roles.

The Marketeers.

These people focus on winning new business and apply their skills in marketing to move plenty of gifts and Product For Prospects into the hands of the right people. They then set up sales conversations to discuss the core business, handle objections and secure clients.

The core skills for marketing and sales people are lead generation, appointment setting, presenting and selling. These skills are enhanced through feedback loops of data that show the cost per lead, conversion rates and sales figures as quickly as possible. The best people in these roles are driven to achieve targets and love to earn commissions and bonuses for performance. Your business will generate its revenue based on the performance of these people, so make sure you're hiring and training as best you can.

The Technicians.

These people are masters of delivering value to your clients. If you have a business installing kitchens, these people are builders who install kitchens. Google employs technicians to build their software, KPMG employs auditors to audit their clients' accounts, Superdrug employ pharmacists – these are all examples of technical roles. Your business will build its reputation on the quality of these individuals, so make sure you do everything you can to find the best technical people you can afford. These people typically have qualifications and a body of work they have completed. Be sure that in addition to their technical capability they are a good fit for the vision, mission and values of your business too.

The Admins.

These people manage the key resources of time and money and create reports and forecasts that lead to better decisions. These people might have titles like Financial Controller, Executive Assistant, CFO or General Manager, and although they are typically behind the scenes, don't underestimate their value to the business.

Without these people, the business becomes chaotic, unmanageable and inefficient. In this role you want people who are detail-focused, orderly and passionate about eliminating wastage or bringing it to the attention of others. They also need to be OK with the chaos and creative flair that accompanies entrepreneurial teams, so be sure they understand what they are getting themselves into, especially if their last job was for a big corporation.

The Key Person of Influence.

This person is the face of your brand and it doesn't have to be you. It can be someone who gets paid to become known, liked and trusted in the industry. They go out and do deals, publish content, get featured in the media, speak at events and generate buzz. Rather than working in the business, they should always be out in the market leading from the front. Nike pays Michael Jordan and a range of other celebrities to wear and promote their brand while they carry on what they do best: producing a range of sporting gear.

If you'd like to learn more about what Key People of Influence do differently, or how you can become one yourself, consider coming along to our half-day event on 20th February, where I'll be joined by some industry-leading guest speakers who'll share their best ideas on how you can stand out and scale up.