An annual salary increase should be tied to profitability not the calendar. We don't recommend automatic annual salary increases. When learning how to manage payroll, we do wholeheartedly recommend is a salary plan that is fair and rewarding to all employees that inspires them to go above and beyond for the agency and its clients. [...]
Awhile ago, we received a call from an agency in upstate New York. "I was looking through a back issues of Money Magazine," he said, "and I saw your letter to the editor mentioning that one of the things you do is work as an advertising agency consultant. You might be the kind of person [...]
Every advertising agency says they have a new business program. Most, I've discovered... have the "oh crap, billings are slow, we need to work the phones, networking events and call some dormant clients" model of prospecting. Over the next month, we're going to delve into advertising and marketing agency new business efforts in a much [...]
I know I'm not telling you anything you haven't already figured out. An agency's employees are so much more than the life blood. They are the walking, talking embodiment of your company. And when they leave -- you can learn a great deal, if you conduct exit interviews. I've been really fortunate. In the almost [...]
Let's be honest -- employees are both the best and the worst part of owning an agency. It's tough to find the right ones. It's a challenge to train them well. It's a bear to encourage each of them in the way they want to be encouraged. And even when you know it's the right [...]
I had the good fortune of being a guest on a RockStar Radio Network show a couple weeks ago to talk about a topic I believe in strongly -- agencies need to walk their social media talk. My good friend Steve Olenski was guest hosting for Carol McManus, the LinkedIn Lady and he asked me to [...]
One of my pet peeves is the hiring practices of agencies -- we need to stop hiring "nice". Earlier this month, we kicked off a conversation about why agencies find themselves relegated to vendor status. If you remember, we identified 3 causes. The economy — workforce reductions, budget cuts and overall fear (out of your control) [...]
All debt is not bad debt -- the question you need to ask yourself is 'should my advertising agency take on debt?" Every business faces the issues surrounding cash flow and keeping the money moving in and back out the door. Advertising agencies are no exception. Until I actually owned my own agency, I didn't [...]
Earlier this week, we kicked off a conversation about why agencies find themselves relegated to vendor status. If you remember, we identified 3 causes. The economy -- workforce reductions, budget cuts and overall fear (out of your control) Agencies willingness to behave like a vendor just to get the project (within your control) Agencies hiring "nice" [...]
Earlier this week, we kicked off a conversation about why agencies find themselves relegated to vendor status. If you remember, we identified 3 causes. The economy -- workforce reductions, budget cuts and overall fear (out of your control) Agencies willingness to behave like a vendor just to get the project (within your control) Agencies hiring [...]
