What’s the purpose of your bonus program?
When an agency shows a profit, one of the first inclinations of the agency owner is to pay a bonus to the staff. I applaud that instinct. But I don’t think you should do it simply because you have a [...]
How to Automate, Augment and Accelerate Your Agency with Artificial Intelligence
In the marketing services industry, CMOs struggle to cross the marketing talent gap and, as a result, turn to performance-driven agency partners. But those partners are struggling to meet the needs of the market. Agencies are expected to be immersed [...]
How are you controlling scope creep?
One of the biggest threats to your agency’s profitability and long-term existence is giving away the farm by over servicing clients, bad estimates, not issuing change orders and allowing clients to change the rules mid-game without any penalty or cost. [...]
One Giant, 50-Year Leap: How Apollo’s story can help fix NASA’s current brand problem
Imagine an organization with a name recognized in every country in the world, whose every move was watched by hundreds of millions of people, and whose successes fulfilled the dreams of a nation and inspired awe and admiration around the [...]
The fine line between value add and over servicing
One of the best compliments my agency ever received came from a client who said he never felt like we had our hand in his pocket. We were putting his interests ahead of our own. And while that’s a great [...]
8 Mistakes Your Agency Is Making When It Comes to Meetings
Although essential — and an asset to your agency — meetings can be a drag. Most attendees think they’re a boring and unproductive waste of time. Some, rather than focus on the content of the meeting itself, make to-do lists [...]
The Bad Habit That’s Killing Your Agency From the Inside
Right now, many agencies struggle with the same serious problem. This issue can drag down profitability, lower employee engagement and harm the reputation of the offending company, and in almost every case, the owner of the agency is the biggest [...]
What’s your exit strategy?
I’m working with an agency owner to think through his exit strategy. He’s 52 years old and doesn’t want to retire for at least 15 years. You may think he’s crazy to be planning that far out but the crazy [...]
Your Clients Need To Hear From You – Occasionally
How many times, as an agency owner, have you been advised to stay out of the day-to-day of client work? Probably more than once. Scaling an agency requires owners to hire the right people, provide appropriate levels of leadership and [...]
A Traffic Manager Will Keep Your Agency Out of a Jam
Within the last five years, an agency’s traffic manager has become the new production manager—building timetables for projects, tracking every single deliverable, and mapping out the company’s work. But the role isn’t valued as much as it should be. In [...]
