A recent article by Blair Enns has re-ginited an age-old question: should agencies be re-inventing themselves? My answer is that question is -- of course. But this isn't a new business development strategy. Agencies have been re-inventing themselves since they started. Grants, the pace is very different but how an agency works and how it sells [...]
I know you think you’re a good communicator but I’d bet you $100 that, when it comes to setting employee expectations, you aren’t as clear as you think you are. No matter how good you are -- you could be better. It’s not entirely your fault. You have several strikes against you. Agencies tend to [...]
I've been spending a lot of time with agency owners and their leadership teams over the past month or so, talking about agency metrics and strategic planning tools. I'm always a little surprised but in almost every instance, there is a missing component that gets in the way of the leadership team really working cohesively and [...]
In an age where it seems like there is a marketing person on every corner and anyone can set up shop on the internet, how do you keep your clients from shopping around? As the industry has shifted from traditional ongoing advertising to project based work, and from long term contracts to short term agreements, [...]
My wish for you -is that 2015 is your year of action! I don't know about you but as much as I love the holidays, I look forward to this time of year as well. The slate is clean and for the first couple weeks in January as things rev back up -- it's the perfect [...]
Are you ready for some fresh company Christmas party ideas? Most agency owners feel kind of blah about their agency's annual holiday party. They spend a lot of money on it but don't really feel like their employees really appreciate or look forward to it. Of course, when I ask them what they do, they [...]
The day to day functions of an agency can be both thrilling and chaotic. And when you’re in the heat of the moment, it’s often easy to forget to revisit your long term plans and strategies. And more so, those long term strategies are often kept in the executive suite. But how can you expect [...]
We work hard to help our agency clients embrace thought leadership as a way to position themselves as a premiere choice among their competitors. Which means we need to walk our talk, eat our own dog food or whatever cliché you'd like to use to prove that it works. We're very grateful that many other [...]
If you're frustrated with the attitude permeating your agency, I'd like to remind you that your agency's morale begins with you. You must improve your own attitude before you begin to improve employee morale. I get it. I've owned my agency for almost 20 years and I'd had more than my share of sleepless nights. The [...]
Sometimes I think as agency owners we forget to connect the dots for our team in an agency management system. Remember when you were a kid and your parents started to talk about something and then in the middle of the conversation, one of them gave the other "the look" and they either stopped their [...]
