A practical guide to building an agency roster that earns its fee, covering scopes, roster models, fee structures and contracts, so every agency has a defined job and a clear reason to stay.
Part of the SmartBuyer Procurement Guide Series.
A roster builds itself one urgent brief at a time: a social specialist for a launch, a production house for a deadline, a network agency inherited with an acquisition. Overlapping scopes, three fee models and a hidden management cost follow, and every extra agency adds briefing, governance and invoice-checking time that appears on no invoice.
This guide gives you a practical route from an inherited roster to a deliberate one, from inventory and capability mapping to scopes, fees and contracts. It reflects what experienced marketing procurement specialists do differently, so every agency has a defined job and earns its place at the annual review.
If any of these describe you, this guide will earn back its 15 minutes.
Most marketing teams inherit their agency roster rather than design it. Our specialists build and rebalance rosters regularly. This guide turns that experience into a practical process you can apply with confidence.
Written by a specialist with hands-on experience of building and managing agency rosters, not theory. They are part of a network of 500+ procurement specialists who buy these categories every day.
