The experience gap – why progression needs a varied diet

I believe that once people in an agency or consultancy reach a certain level, their role should include some contribution to business development.

That doesn’t mean everyone needs to become a front-line salesperson. Not everyone will generate leads, negotiate contracts or have a personal revenue target. (Although it really helps if a few people do).

But senior people should make a tangible contribution to winning work, retaining clients or growing existing relationships.

That might include:

• Researching markets and prospects

• Creating useful case studies and credentials

• Helping prepare proposals and meeting materials

• Joining credentials meetings and presentations

• Building relationships with referrers and partners

• Identifying opportunities with existing or past clients

• Supporting account planning and relationship development

None of these require someone to become a different person. They simply mean becoming more involved in how the business grows. Their exact contribution will vary by role, confidence and experience.

But the principle matters: as people become more senior, their value to the business needs to extend beyond their creative delivery.

Not just more of the same

For much of someone’s early career, progression comes from doing more of the work.

They get faster. Their craft improves. Their judgement develops. They take on more complex briefs, more responsibility and larger projects.

All valuable – and exactly as it should be.

But we can’t assume that repeated exposure to the same type of work will keep producing the same pace of growth. At some point, progression slows down.

More likely, people plateau: highly capable at the work they know, but not yet ready for the broader contribution expected at senior or Director level.

There’s a simple reason for that. If the experience – what goes in – remains largely the same, we shouldn’t expect a significantly different level of value to come out.

Someone can spend years becoming an excellent designer, strategist, researcher or project manager without learning how work is won, how client relationships are developed, how scope is protected, or how an agency makes enough money to support its people.

Those skills don’t emerge automatically with age, experience or job title. They need different forms of experience.

I’ve written before about the idea that what got someone here won’t necessarily get them there. That’s especially true in creative businesses, where the route to seniority is usually built on becoming better at delivery.

But as people move up, the business needs something more.

It needs people who can strengthen client relationships, develop others, spot opportunities and contribute directly to future revenue, as well as delivering good work today.

Don’t wait until promotion

A common mistake is to wait until someone is being considered for promotion before giving them any meaningful exposure to business development.

Or worse still, promoting them first, then simply expecting them to contribute.

By then, the gap can feel uncomfortably large.

Someone who’s spent ten years being rewarded mainly for delivery may reasonably believe that commercial conversations are someone else’s job. They may have had little opportunity to see how senior colleagues build trust with prospects, discuss fees, handle uncertainty or uncover opportunities with existing clients.

Then, suddenly, they’re expected to help lead a credentials meeting, deepen a client relationship or contribute to a proposal.

That’s a big jump. And it can feel unfair.

The desire to step up often arrives just as people’s financial responsibilities are increasing. They may want to buy a home, support a family or simply see their career and income continue to move forward.

That isn’t the ideal moment to discover that the next step requires a completely different set of capabilities.

So it pays to start early. Not by expecting junior people to sell. But by helping them understand that their work exists within a commercial context, and gradually giving them opportunities to participate in it.

Give people the right fuel

A useful rule of thumb for leaders planning learning and development is 70:20:10.

• Around 70% of development comes from practical, ‘on-the-job’ experience.

• The next ~20% should come from internal support and structured learning.

• The remaining 10% can come from external training or specialist input.

The precise percentages aren’t the point. The important thing is that most development happens inside the business, through the opportunities leaders create.

That means we need to be more deliberate about what people get to see and do.

Bring promising team members into client meetings earlier, but give them a clear role. Ask them to prepare a few questions, listen for particular themes, or present a small part of the work.

Involve them in preparing for a new-business meeting. Explain who the prospective client is, why they may be talking to you, what they’re likely to care about, and what you still need to understand.

Ask them to help turn a completed project into a case study. Not just a record of attractive outputs, but a useful story about the client’s challenge, what changed, and the commercial impact of your work.

Let them contribute to relationship management. Which people matter? Where is the client under pressure? What work might be coming up? Who else in their organisation should you know?

After an important client conversation, take ten minutes to explain the thinking behind it.

• Why did you ask that question?

• Why didn’t you answer immediately?

• Why did you challenge that assumption?

• Why did you follow up in that particular way?

Experienced leaders often do these things instinctively. Which is why they can forget to explain them.

These are the moments when commercial judgement becomes visible and transferable to others.

Make it part of progression

Business development, which is often wrongly reduced to sales, shouldn’t be an optional extra for the few people who happen to enjoy it – or are prepared to do it.

It should be part of how you define progression.

As people move from mid-weight to senior and towards Director level, their role should include more client exposure, more awareness of the commercial context and more responsibility for relationships and opportunities.

That will result in healthier sales, but just as importantly, a much stronger leadership pipeline.

It also reduces the risk of the all-too-common scenario where commercial responsibility sits with the founder, partners or a very small group of senior people.

That arrangement can work for a while. But it creates bottlenecks, keeps founders trapped in the work, and makes the business harder to sustain, scale or sell.

The good news is that commercial capability can be developed.

It isn’t all about personality type. And it isn’t reserved for naturally confident extroverts. People learn it through explanation, observation, practice and feedback.

External training can accelerate that process by giving people shared language, practical frameworks and a safe place to practise skills that may feel unfamiliar.

But it works best when it’s supported by real opportunities inside the business.

So don’t wait until someone’s asking for promotion, or until you urgently need them to take pressure off the leadership team.

And for goodness sake, don’t give them a promotion, then just expect them to ‘step up’.

Instead, give them the experiences that will help them become ready.

Seniority shouldn’t just mean delivering bigger pieces of work. It should include helping the business win it in the first place.

Where do your people need more experience before they step up?

Winning new work, project profitability or client relationships?

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