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How to Simplify Your Business & Maximize Performance with Joe Calloway

Keep it simple. Sounds easy, right? Not so much. It’s one of those things that’s so much easier said than done. But until you begin to simplify your business, as well as the way you think about your business, it’s really difficult to maximize your performance.   Simplicity is the common thread that runs through my podcast guest Joe Calloway’s life. His newest book “Keep It Simple” has seven simple truths that he invites readers to follow and embrace if they want to take their business to the next level. As Joe says, “If you can make things simple, you can move mountains.” Follow along with Joe and I as we uncover: Why Joe wrote “Keep It Simple” and how it’s different from his other books What all effective leaders have in common What your vision/mission statement should sound like Why you need to follow Warren Buffett’s advice and say no to almost everything The Gold Standard: doing what you say you will do, the way you said you will do it, when you said you would do it Why you have to set the example inside your business Why you can’t get stuck doing what used to work Being better tomorrow than you are today How to simplify your business and why it maximizes your team’s performance Why you need to be so good at the basics that you are cutting edge Why you need to work on the relationships with everyone you work with Being your authentic self and believing in yourself Why — whatever happens — that’s normal Improving upon your strengths Why your success is dictated by your culture Why you need to get clear on the three things you need [...]

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How to Streamline Business Processes and Improve Workflow Efficiency with Chris Wilson

A lot of agencies want to grow and scale but it really gets to be a problem when they lack the proper workflow and systems and are unsure how to streamline business processes. Agency owners can sometimes need help learning how to manage workflow in office. Many agency owners bristle when they hear these words but without a shared workflow process, it is impossible to deliver quality or consistency throughout your entire agency.   This often shows up as: A constant cash flow crunch and you don't know why Not knowing if a project is profitable or worse, if a client is profitable A stressed staff who keeps re-inventing the wheel Everyone has their own way of getting work through the agency These can all be warning signs that perhaps your workflow could use some improvement. Chris Wilson helps agencies of all sizes address their workflow issues so they can move forward, scale and grow. He has an extensive understanding of the operation, management and workflow processes of agencies.   Chris joins me on Build A Better Agency and we talk systems and workflow.  I promise, it’s better than it sounds! We cover: The typical reasons that agencies decide they need to get better systems in place What Chris’ company Function Point does Mistakes that agencies make when it comes to starting to think about workflow and using a tool like Function Point How to figure out if your workflow process needs improving How to streamline business processes and workflow within your agency Why workflow allows people to put their brain flow in the right place Why systems have to be easy to use Why timesheets are absolutely necessary and why agency owners can’t be exempt from [...]

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Systemizing Your Agency Using Documented Processes with Andrew Dymski

“We were kind of just flying by the seat of our pants, to be honest. We weren't operating off of a tight scope. We were just out there creating stuff that we knew we should be making, but there was no structure or order to it at all. We aren’t sure how to streamline processes at work.”   Sound familiar?   That sounds like an agency in need of some processes and systems. My podcast guest Andrew Dymski was describing his own agency in the quote above. Fortunately, he realized that they had to stop reinventing the wheel with every new project or client. What he discovered is that by creating documented processes for each step of the client journey, they were able to become more focused and much more profitable. So many agencies know they need to systematize their agency but it’s a daunting task so the excuses are easier. As Andrew put it during our conversation, “you’ve got to put a firm date on the calendar when you're going to step back, pop the hood, and look at the agency and the way it's running.” Follow Andrew and I on his journey down the process and systemizing your agency rabbit hole and how his agency came out on the other side:   How Andrew and his business partner Gray MacKenzie started their agency while they were still in college and the transformation that GuavaBox has undergone since then How Michael Gerber’s “The E Myth” transformed how Andrew’s agency was ran Using blogging as a method for separating yourself Why clients will leave if communication is poor — even when you’re doing great work DoInbound: a tool for creating templates that power the delivery of services just [...]

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Selling Your Agency and Preparing Your Business for Sale with John Warrillow

Every agency owner believes that they’ll sell their agency some day. But the truth is, most agency owners are not doing anything to make their business sellable. 90% of all agencies just close the doors one day. There’s nothing wrong with that. You can make a good living and pull extra money out every year and then when you’re done – lock the door on your way out. But if you do want to sell your agency, the time to begin prepping it for sale is today.  Even if you’re 10+ years away from retirement, the time is now.   Do you want to keep it? Pass it on to your kids? Sell it to your employees or maybe sell it to an outside buyer?  Each of these options requires you to prepare and be ready when the time comes.    My guest, John Warrilow helps business owners prepare for these options. Join John and I as we walk through the ways that you can get your agency ready for the future by discovering: John’s book “Built to Sell” The very easy path for agencies to follow that make it extremely hard to sell What services look like that make an agency sellable Why you can’t confuse the doing with owning a business When is it time to say no to business? What to do after selling your agency Things to avoid when exiting your agency Services agencies can offer on a subscription model Standardizing a process and giving that process or product a specific name Why you shouldn’t surround yourself with journeymen agency employees How to assess how sellable your agency is and what can be done to make your agency more sellable John [...]

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The 3 Must-Have Workplace Meetings Every Organization Should Be Having

Humorist Dave Barry once said, “If you had to identify, in a single word, the reason why the human race has not achieved, and never will achieve, its full potential, that word would be “meetings.”   Most of you feel the same way. The last thing you need is another meeting but I am here to tell you that there are some meetings you absolutely need. They’re an investment. An investment in making your agency better, an investment in your people, an investment in your culture, and an investment in building the best team possible. Join me for this solocast as I lay out the must-have workplace meetings every agency should be having: The daily traffic / huddle meeting for discussing daily vital priorities and how to make this meeting work regardless of agency size The monthly all-staff meeting for informing and inspiring your team The twice a year to quarterly meeting for team building and planning Drew McLellan is the Top Dog at Agency Management Institute. He has also owned and operated his own agency over the last 20-years. And all through the year, he straddles the fence of working in his agency and working with 250+ small- to mid-size agencies in a variety of ways. He works with agency owners in peer network groups, teaches workshops for owners and their leadership teams, teaches AE bootcamps, and does a lot of consulting. Because he works with a lot of agencies every year — he has the unique opportunity to see the patterns and the habits (both good and bad) that happen over and over again. He has also written two books and been featured in The New York Times, Entrepreneur Magazine, and Fortune Small [...]

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Agency best practices — what to do when your client is stalled

Short of losing out on work, I'm not sure there's anything more frustrating then when a client is stalled on a project.  You know how it goes.  Client calls with their hair on fire.  You move heaven and earth to get the resources ready to help them solve their crisis and you're knee deep into the work when you get the call.  "We have to hold tight for a minute." Which of course, turned into 2 months. Or worse -- you don't get a call.  But you are waiting on something from the client (web content perhaps?) and you wait.  And wait.  But the client is stalled and not telling you. The worst part isn't the delay. It's that every day of the delay costs you money.  And it costs you even more money when they're ready to go again. You have to get your head back into the work, you have to go back and re-read the creative brief, and you often have to bring the team back together to get everyone back on track.  On top of all of that -- you need to shift work to accommodate the old project because when they come back -- they're always in a hurry to get it done. Ideally you can discourage clients from disrupting the flow of the work.  But even if you can't -- you shouldn't be penalized for a client not having their act together.  I get it.  Sometimes it's not your client but someone else inside their organization and sometimes, stuff just comes up.  But you know what -- you're running a business and it's tough to do that when clients behave in an unpredictable and unreasonable manner.  Which is what all [...]

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Developing A Content Marketing Strategy that Actually Works with Joe Pulizzi

Strategy. Consistency. Focus. These are the key elements of content marketing strategy success in today’s content marketing world, according to my podcast guest, Joe Pulizzi. Joe is the founder of Content Marketing Institute and it’s cornerstone event Content Marketing World so he’s been teaching and living content for a long time. Today’s agencies have to figure out the content game. You need to know when your client needs to create content, how to make it sticky and relevant and how to do it profitably. The winning content formula of strategy + consistency + focus is what it takes to build an audience and that is where the value lies - in getting, keeping and maintaining an audience. Content for content’s sake is just more noise.   Joe and I help you to put this content strategy puzzle together by showing you: What agencies and clients need to do to develop a content marketing strategy that actually succeeds Why you need to focus on your email list more than people you are connected with on social media How agencies can leverage their own content better Why you need to focus on content in specific platforms over trying to be everywhere What differentiates the agencies that do content marketing extremely well Old school deliverables that still work today Why you need a content marketing mission statement Why the editing process is a crucial part of content marketing The ways smart agencies get smart enough to create valuable content Things agencies can do right now to get the content marketing techniques discussed in this episode rolling Joe’s events Joe Pulizzi is the founder of Content Marketing Institute, the leading education and training organization for content marketing, which includes [...]

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Agency best practices — the new overtime law (2016)

The Department of Labor has finally decided how/when they’re going to roll out the new overtime law which is going to have a huge impact on agencies. And it’s not just agencies. It’s estimated that the preparation and management to stay compliance with this new law will cost US businesses $592.7 million and over there will be a $1.4 billion net transfer to employees. The 4As estimate that 25% of agency employees will now be eligible for overtime pay for every hour over 40 that they work. At AMI, we believe it’s closer to 40%, given that the agencies we work with are smaller (1-300 employees) and privately held. This is a complicated issue and there are no easy answers. As an agency owner, you’ve got to use the the time you have between now and December 1st to prepare for this huge change. Today, if an employee makes less than $23,660 and works over 40 hours, they are eligible for overtime pay. As of December 1st, the new salary threshold goes up to $47,476. Any employee who is not a manager/supervisor will now need to be paid overtime for anything over 40 hours. The $47,476 will increase every 3 years, so know this is going to be an ongoing problem for agencies. Given the way we work today, you can see how this is quickly going to be a problem. Your employees don’t work traditional work weeks or hours. Think about the time they spend in client meetings or traveling with clients at trade shows or other events. How about the time they spend traveling on behalf of the client. Even the plane time, if they’re working, need to be counted against the 40 hour threshold. [...]

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Understanding Customer Value-Based Pricing as a Pricing Strategy with Ron Baker

Everyone in the agency business has a deep hatred for two aspects of your business. The billable hour and the timesheet. My podcast guest, Ron Baker, believes agencies should do away with both. (I disagree with him on the timesheet and you’ll hear why in our conversation). Ron’s philosophy is built around the concept of customer value-based pricing. He’s a huge value-based pricing advocate and a CPA but he’s no ordinary CPA. He and his team are committed to price certainty in all professions, including agencies.  He wants to help you have a conversation with your customer to determine the value of what you're creating, so that you're pricing the customer, not your services or the scope of work. Ron and I help you understand what your customers are trying to achieve and how to assign a value to the work you do to help them get there.  We answer many customer value-based pricing questions like:   Why Ron believes that the billable hour and the timesheet need to go Customer value-based pricing: the differences between different pricing plans Ways to add in additional value that isn’t more “stuff” How to start a value conversation The typical agency objections of value-based pricing and why they’re false How to succeed at the transition to value-based pricing Other kinds of mistakes agencies make when shifting towards value-based pricing The major benefits for focusing on value and the customer Action steps that agencies can take when deciding whether or not to utilize customer value-based pricing Ron Baker is the founder of VeraSage Institute, a leading think tank dedicated to educating professionals internationally, and a radio talk-show host called The Soul of Enterprise: Business in the Knowledge Economy. Ron [...]

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