I Talked an Agency Owner Out of Hiring a Media Buyer
Zack AllenOctober 4, 20262:24
A real client call where an agency owner spending under 10 hours a week on media buying asked about hiring a media buyer, and I told him it wasn't his constraint yet.
I was on a call with an agency owner who wanted to explore hiring a media buyer. A few minutes in, he said something I appreciated: "Maybe this is my problem. I don't know if I know what I want here exactly."
So I told him what I was hearing. He was spending less than 10 hours a week on media buying across three clients. That sounded manageable. Sure, it would be nice to have someone in place, but it didn't sound like the hire would unlock the next stage of his business right now.
In other words, media buying wasn't his constraint yet.
His two worries
He agreed, but he had two concerns.
What happens later. He was worried about what would happen moving forward if he didn't get someone in place.
Not enough work. He didn't want to hire someone with nothing to do. If he spends 10 hours a week on it, he figured he'd spend five hours a week training them, and they'd end up with about 12 hours of work a week.
On the second point, I pushed back a little. The workload may not be 40 hours a week, but someone coming into his systems fresh would not get it done in 10 to 12 hours just because he can.
Start with a piece
He described the highest leverage outcome as someone he could trust to monitor and manage campaigns, run the analytics, handle creative strategy and keep scaling so his clients crush it.
A strong media buyer can cover all of that. But I'd be cautious about delegating the whole thing at once. I'd look at where his time is going and backfill the piece that's constraining him. Then see how the new hire handles that piece, and how he handles leading them, and expand the scope as they get comfortable with the way he runs things.
Why I'd rather say "not yet"
Near the end he apologized for making me sell him on a media buyer in the first place. No need. I enjoy talking about this. I've spent the past three years helping people solve their constraint through hiring.
And on my side, I don't want to sell someone a full-time hire when they don't need a full-time hire. The right hire solves a constraint. If the constraint isn't there yet, the better move is to wait until it is.
Transcript
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I mean, maybe this is my problem. Like I I I don't know if I know what I want here exactly. And like um I mean it to me it doesn't really sound like correct me if I'm wrong. It doesn't sound like there's a constraint yet. Like if you're doing less than 10 hours a week on media buying across three clients, like it sounds fairly manageable. Of course, it would be nice to have someone in place here, but it doesn't sound like you're you're like it would unlock you to the next stage right now.
Yeah. Yeah. I agree. I I guess like I'm I'm really just worried about like what's going to happen moving forward
If we don't get this in place. Um and I also I don't want to hire someone where there isn't like work for them to do.
Yeah.
Um like if I'm spending 10 hours a week on it, I don't know. I feel like I'd probably end up spending like uh five hours a week training them or something and then they'd have like 12 hours of work a week to do which that would suck. Um,
Well, I think I mean, sure, maybe the workload is not 40 hours a week right now, but I do think that someone coming into your systems fresh would not be able to do it in in 10 to 12 hours if you can do it in that amount of time. Yeah, that's true, too. The highest leverage outcome would be if I can have someone in place that I can trust to actively monitor and manage campaigns, uh, do analytics on them, do creative strategy for them, and just continue to scale them so our clients crush.
Again, it's I think it's a backfill thing. It's like where is your time going that you are constrained? And obviously a good media buyer is going to be able to encapsulate all of it, but I would be very cautious of doing that, especially being like like I would be nervous about just delegating the whole thing off. I would I would start with a piece and then see how they're able to manage that.
See how you're able to like deal with the leadership of that and then have the scope expand as they get more comfortable with the way you run things.
Yeah, that makes sense.
Yeah. Yeah, I mean I I apologize for having uh you have to sell me on having a media buyer in the first place, but um I I I really haven't thought like super deeply about it. Um no man, I I enjoy talking about this stuff. I mean, this is what I've been doing for the past three years is is trying to help people solve their constraint through hiring. And so like I want to make sure that and also on my side it's like I don't want to sell you uh you know a full-time hire when you don't need a full-time hire.
