What Is the Real Growth Bottleneck in Your Agency? 

Prefer to listen instead of read? No problem! Click below to listen to the blog post. 

When asking a producer about their production results, I can’t tell you how often I’ve heard:

“I’d love to sell more new business, but I just don’t trust our service team to handle it.”  

Sometimes, their concern is the service team's capacity, but more often than not, they question the team’s ability to do a good job. While either could be a legitimate concern, the reality is usually quite different. A lot of times, this excuse serves as nothing more than a convenient cover for a producer’s lack of performance more than having anything to do with the service team's performance.

Addressing the service team's concern 

If service capacity is a legitimate issue, then the solution is obvious: invest in training, expand the team, or both. An agency that prioritizes growth must ensure that its service team is adequately equipped to manage new business effectively. In fact, the agency owes this to its producers to not have limitations on their ability to grow their books of business. This means: 

• Providing ongoing training to improve efficiency and customer experience. 

• Streamlining workflows with better technology and automation. 

• Hiring additional service professionals as new business demands increase. 

Agencies that see their growth limited by their ability to service clients need to take proactive steps to remove the bottleneck.  However, the bigger question is whether this capacity issue is actually the real problem or if it’s just a convenient, producer-generated excuse. 

Will the real issue please stand up? 

The service team’s capacity and/or ability is rarely the barrier to growth, at least the only barrier. Instead, the problem often lies with the producers themselves. If every producer performed at the level they expect of their service team, agencies would experience exponential growth. Agencies struggling with organic growth typically need to start by evaluating the performance of the production team.  

Let’s put this into perspective. If the service team operated at the level of many producers, meaning if they were inconsistent, lacked accountability, or didn’t deliver results, leadership wouldn’t hesitate to replace them. Yet, when producers fail to deliver, they are often allowed to shift blame instead of being held accountable. 

The primary role of a producer is to generate revenue. The agency's growth stalls if it isn’t actively prospecting, networking, and closing deals. When new business isn’t flowing in, leadership cannot justify investments in additional support, training, or staff expansion. The service team then becomes overwhelmed, not because there is too much new business but because it is tasked with maximizing retention to compensate for weak sales performance. 

With new business growth comes swagger 

New business is the lifeblood of every agency. When producers consistently bring in new revenue, good things happen: 

More resources become available

A steady stream of new business allows agency leadership to confidently invest in better technology, additional training, and expanded service teams. 

Higher morale across the agency

When the agency is growing together, there’s a greater sense of momentum and success. The service team isn’t burdened with making up for a lack of new business; producers are rewarded for their contributions. 

Professional growth opportunities

As the agency grows, it opens doors for professional and leadership development, higher earnings, and better client relationships. 

A stronger competitive advantage

Agencies that grow organically are better positioned to reinvest in their brand, attract top talent, and differentiate themselves in the market. Instead of defending their clients constantly, they benefit from the reality that their competition will turn its attention to the clients of weaker agencies. 

The bottom line 

For agencies to achieve consistent and predictable growth, they must first ensure that every producer takes full responsibility for their role. This doesn’t mean the service team gets a free pass at all.  

Instead of blaming the service team for supposed capacity constraints, producers must focus on their core job: selling. When they do, it creates a ripple effect of positive change, more resources, better service, and a stronger agency overall. 

Revenue growth is never easy, but most agencies make it way more difficult than necessary. Predictable growth is an operational, sales, and leadership responsibility. Agencies that recognize this and hold everyone on the team accountable for their contribution will always outpace the competition. 

Q4i and Goose can help    

We have built an online platform called "Goose: Your Ultimate Wingman" to help you implement these types of growth ideas. In it, you will find the business tools you need to grow as a team: tracking tools, training programs, peer community, access to coaching, and marketing assistance.   

To learn how Goose may help drive your growth in 2025, check out our website at Q4intel.com/goose. Or feel free to connect with or contact me directly on LinkedIn.