Checkpoints: You Can’t Scale What You Don’t Measure
- Claire Hutchings
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
When you ask agency founders how the business is doing, the answer often comes down to gut feel: “It feels busy.” “We’ve got a good pipeline.” “The team seems stretched.” Instinct has its place (especially as an entrepreneur) but it’s not a reliable way to run a growing business. And the more reliable your business the easier it will be to scale, exit and ultimately, enjoy it!
At The Agency Adventure, we call these Checkpoints, it’s one of six pillars in our Your Agency of the Future framework. It’s about the data, metrics, and cadence that give you a clear picture of performance, so you can make better decisions and keep your agency on track.
What we mean by Checkpoints
Checkpoints are the mechanisms you use to measure and guide your agency.
They include:
Financial tracking and forecasting. Clear insight into revenue, profit, and cash flow allows you to plan ahead and avoid unexpected shocks.
Utilisation and profitability. Measuring how effectively your team’s time turns into profit helps you spot leaks and protect your margins.
Client feedback (NPS or eNPS). Regular feedback highlights what’s working well and flags risks in relationships before it’s too late.
Project scorecards and team dashboards. Simple, visual tools make performance visible and help teams stay accountable day to day.
Regular planning cadences. Quarterly reviews and 90-day plans turn strategy into action, keeping everyone aligned and focused on the right priorities.
Strong Checkpoints replace assumptions with clarity helping you spot risks early, align your team, and act decisively.
Why Checkpoints matter
Without Checkpoints, agencies drift into reactive mode. Cash flow surprises catch you off guard and profitability erodes without anyone noticing. Then, team morale dips but doesn’t get picked up until people leave and you uncover a world of pain in exit interviews.
One founder put it bluntly:
“We thought we were profitable until we actually ran the numbers. Once we had the data, we realised our margins were half of what we believed. While it was an initial shock, establishing clear data metrics ultimately saved the business. We wouldn't be where we are now without it.”
With good Checkpoints in place, founders can make confident decisions. You know what levers to pull when challenges arise. You can forecast growth, invest wisely, and reassure your team that the business is on solid ground.
The founder’s challenge
For many creative leaders, numbers feel uncomfortable. Spreadsheets are dull compared to pitching ideas or solving client problems, but ignoring the data doesn’t make it go away; it just makes it harder to fix later.
As one Tom Wilson, one of our Guides explained:
“You don’t need to love spreadsheets or tools, you just need the right checkpoints in place. That way the numbers work for you, rather than against you.”
Questions to consider
If you’re unsure how strong your agency’s Checkpoints are, ask yourself:
Do you review profitability regularly, or only at year-end?
Can you see at a glance how much of your team’s time is billable and effective?
Do you have a planning rhythm that connects your one-year plan to 90-day priorities?
Next steps
Our, Your Agency of the Future diagnostic tool highlights whether your Checkpoints are giving you the clarity you need. It shows how well you’re measuring what matters, and where you might be flying blind. You can see how this pillar compares to all your others too.
Get involved
We’re speaking to founders about how they use data to steer their agencies — the tools that work, the rhythms that keep them accountable, and the blind spots they’ve uncovered along the way. If you’d like to share your story, we’d love to hear from you.
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