Creativity lives at the center of every agency, but finding, nurturing, and retaining the best fit creatives can feel like an impossible task. Someone with an impressive resume who interviews wonderfully can suddenly feel like a mismatch once they’re actually in the role. It can feel like a guessing game, which is especially daunting for such an integral part of the team and your agency’s success. […]
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 many cases, the biggest offenders are agency leaders. Unfortunately for clients and teams, some agency leaders struggle to keep their promises. We might be busy — and we usually have valid excuses — but those excuses don’t change the facts. Every time we fail to deliver something on time or on budget, whether it’s for an internal client or an external one, we erode a bit of the trust in ourselves and in our business. And we set an example that can destroy an agency’s reputation, ability to grow, and profits. Mot agencies (and agency owners) deal with this issue at some point. I know I have — as have many of the other owners we’ve worked with over the years. You can change yourself and your agency’s culture, but to do so, you have to start taking accountability seriously. Saying it matters is lovely. Demonstrating it matters is when your team will actually take notice. If it’s time for you to revitalize accountability inside your agency, an article I wrote for Forbes may hold some tips worth considering. But it starts with recognizing that it’s not okay just because you’re the boss. In fact, it should be less okay because we’re the boss. This was originally published in the weekly AMI newsletter. To subscribe, click here.
All agency owners strive to be great leaders but that can be a daunting task when there are so many things that demand attention on a daily basis. And understanding what defines a great leader and how to learn and implement those skills can be equally overwhelming. When it feels like the focus needs to be external on building the company and growing client relationships, time dedicated internally to processes and staff development is often rushed, minimized, or pushed to another day. […]
President/Partner Danyel comes to AMI with a wealth of agency owner experience. She facilitates our live peer group meetings, partners with Drew on succession work, coaches both owners and up-and-coming leaders, and teaches some of our workshops. Over the course of her career as an agency owner, she has both bought several existing agencies and grown her original purchase from a small team of four to a 40+ person national force to be reckoned with in their niche sectors before successfully selling it to three employees. She spent years coaching and growing the agency’s current owners, along with overseeing the complete overhaul of the agency’s systems and processes as it grew. She was rightly credited for being the heart of her agency’s culture and their commitment to people first is seen in the low turnover and high employee and client satisfaction scores. Known for her ability to read people, an in-depth understanding of how to identify an employee’s strengths and maximize them, and her gift of inspiring and encouraging people to stretch themselves to new heights, Danyel is the ideal coach for agency owners and leaders. She's also a seasoned sage when it comes to both buying or selling an agency. As the co-lead in AMI’s Succession work, Danyel works alongside Drew to help agency owners identify and groom employees for eventual ownership. Danyel has her BA in Theatre and Design at the University of Evansville and Harlaxton College in Grantham, England, as well as Interior Design at the Colorado Institute of Art. When she’s not growing people, she loves to grow plants, hang out with Drew and their menagerie of pets and kids, travel to distant lands, and using her design skills to [...]
Thank You for Registering Thanks for registering for the 2022 Build A Better Agency Summit on May 24-25th, 2022. We’re looking forward to spending a couple days with you, helping you build a more sustainable, scalable, and if you want to down the road – sellable agency. In the meantime – we want you to see how your agency can be an ATM – helping you fund your family’s goals for years to come. We will definitely be adopting the AMI philosophy of — “you will gain in proportion to what you share” – so we’re hoping that everyone will come to the summit ready to learn from the other attendees as well as our incredible line up of keynote, breakout and roundtable speakers! LOCATION: Please make your reservations soon. The hotel WILL eventually sell out, so the pickings are going to be slim! The Westin Chicago River North 320 North Dearborn Street Chicago, IL 60654, US Click here to reserve your room in our room block at the Westin Chicago River North.
There’s no denying that the call for diversity, equity, and inclusion has never been louder. In the middle of it all, agencies are trying to embrace change internally at the same time they are guiding clients on how to incorporate genuine representation, making us students and guides at the same time. It can be uncomfortable, awkward, and overwhelming, especially to dominant communities who have no real-world experience with marginalization. […]
Creating a solid tax strategy for your agency might not seem like the most exciting thing to think about but doing so has the potential to put a lot more money directly into your pocket. It can be daunting to try and understand all of the options available, especially when a lot of the COVID-related aid adds to the confusion, so having a solid tax advisor in your corner is more important than ever. But how can you make sure you’re getting the guidance you need if you don’t even know what questions to ask? […]
We all know how critical account service people are to the success of our agencies. It’s a tough job. Account service people must balance the needs of the agency, the internal team, and of course, the clients. A rock-solid account service person can help you retain and upsell clients, delivering a higher percentage of profitability on both counts. Creating a strong and dependable account services team and process is key to your success. […]
We all know it’s easier to sell to someone who knows and trusts us. In fact, it’s essential. We can either try to create that sense of connection and trust during the sales process or it can already exist long before the sales dance begins. I have seen many agencies build their entire biz dev strategy around the latter — creating opportunities for getting to know and collaborate with prospects and then initiating the sales conversation once that collaboration has build the foundation of the relationship. One of the methods for creating this pre-sales bond is by inviting your prospects to co-create content with you. Whether it is being a guest on your podcast, featuring them in an article you are writing, interviewing them for a book or some other way of putting the spotlight on them — it works. Forbes asked me to write about some best practices when it comes to collaborative content and I’m hoping you find it useful if you are thinking about deploying this strategy. By the way — this is also a brilliant strategy to help clients adopt as well. Practice on yourself, demonstrate how it works, and then create a program for them using the same methodology. It’s a very sustainable way to generate fees for the agency and new relationships/sales for your client! This was originally published in the weekly AMI newsletter. To subscribe, click here.
We spent a lot of the last year steeped in worry. It was inevitable, given what we’ve all experienced. But even when we’re not facing a global pandemic — it’s easy to get caught up in your own mind, given our work. It’s the nature of the beast for problem solvers like us, working in an ever-changing industry, where our decisions and performance effect so many. Expected but exhausting. In that constant chaos, it can be especially difficult to remember to be grateful. […]
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