Why Now Is the Time to Start Planning Your Exit Strategy
Thinking about the end is never fun. Neither is planning for it. So it makes sense that business leaders would avoid planning for the day they sell their company or step down from their role. Without a clear exit strategy, however, [...]
Agencies: Stop Thinking Like a Vendor and Act Like a Partner
In the formerly monogamous advertising world, polygamy now reigns. The modern version of the client-agency relationship leaves many agencies longing for the "Mad Men" era of sole partnerships, 9-to-5 schedules and heavy drinking by 3 p.m. -- but those days [...]
‘Helpfulness’ May Have a Delayed ROI, But Hang in There Anyway
About five years ago, a business owner requested a meeting with my team to help rebrand his company. When we met, he set down a three-ring binder filled with copies of my weekly marketing column and said, “I’ve been reading [...]
Why Your Agency (Not Your Clients) Should Come First
Anyone who’s ever worked in an agency knows how demanding clients can be. If you keep your clients happy, you’ll keep your agency happy, right? Wrong. As an agency owner, it’s all too easy to get sucked into the day-to-day tasks of [...]
3 Traits to Look for in any Great Account Executive
The toughest jobs are those that put people between two equally strong and demanding forces. Waitresses, for example, are at the mercy of their customers and cooks, yet their tips and livelihoods often depend on their abilities to provide high-quality [...]
How To Give Every Employee A Personal Stake In Your Company
If you’re a business owner, you want your employees to feel as personally invested in the company as you do–but you probably know that isn’t likely. Still, your management strategy can have a huge impact on how deeply invested your [...]
Don’t Be Held Hostage by Your Rogue Tech Team
Some things creep up slowly in life, like global warming and receding hairlines. Now you can add to that list: The reign of a digital team in agencies. As digital advertising continues its double-digit growth, more and more agencies routinely [...]
Clients Should Align with Your Company’s Mission Statement
A company’s mission statement should influence every move it makes, including what clients or customers it takes on. Serving clients who don’t align with your mission statement might bring in more money, but it often can hurt your company more than you [...]
Don’t Be Mad About Promoting Mad Men (or Women)
The expression “those who can’t do, teach” is well known for good reason. But many business leaders nevertheless assume that top-performing employees are automatically good at managing and teaching their skills to others. The consequences of this assumption can be [...]
The Secret Sauce: Quintessential Ingredients for Hiring an Agency
Every company has its own process for evaluating potential agencies to work with. Some use objective rubrics, others use gut feelings. Still, others claim to have a “secret sauce” or hybrid evaluation process. While that secret sauce is helpful, developing [...]
