In response to the changes brought about by the pandemic, many agency owners have turned to fear-based decision-making. Employee turnover and demands coupled with an erratic market and global uncertainty can make things feel out of control. Trying to steer an agency with a vision requires decision-making that might put you at odds with your team so it might feel wise to placate rather than push. But it’s not. […]
As we start to dip our toes into 2022, many agencies have been pretty quiet on the biz dev front for the last 4-6 weeks. By the time we emerge from the holiday hibernation, we’re approaching February and our pipeline is feeling a little weak. I decided to help you jump-start your agency biz dev efforts with a series of podcast conversations just between you and me. […]
During the lifetime of an agency, how that agency/agency owner approaches business development evolves. In the beginning, an agency’s first clients are people the agency owner knows personally. From there, as the agency matures and grows, it morphs into working with people who have been referred to the agency by happy clients. Many agencies never evolve past this level of business development. It can be challenging to see options for the continuum of business development beyond the normal routine. […]
Agencies often pose important questions to our clients in order to help steer them into good decision-making. We talk to them about the need to be findable, to understand the customer’s buying journey, to be helpful to clients instead of selling to them, and being aware of how far prospects are into the buying decision by the time the client is actually aware the prospect exists. We are great at teaching this to our clients, but many agencies aren’t so great at taking their own advice. […]
How to grow your book of business and equip your AEs. When your AEs make informed decisions, they can grow your book of business successfully. Agency business development has to consider many things when setting goals for how to grow your book of business. There is new business to be found, existing business to expand, and lost business to make up for. It can be difficult to juggle all of this information as the agency owner, but it can be challenging for an agency’s AEs who aren’t clear on how to best leverage their position when growing their book of business. […]
Agency life has evolved dramatically since the era portrayed in shows like Mad Men. We used to be the keepers of the “secret sauce” for making the magic happen, and now we’re the keepers of the secret knowledge for using that magic to its greatest potential. Agencies used to be expected to be generalists, but now clients and prospects are looking for specialists with a depth of strategic expertise. And part of that specialty is having a clear point of view. But you can’t just whisper it; you have to shout it from the mountaintops. […]
Business development is a complicated and challenging aspect of agency life for many owners. The same rules that applied when the agency was new no longer apply once it starts to settle into its identity. But what is that identity, and how can it best be leveraged for business growth? And what if you want to shift that identity to better define how you want to be seen and known? […]
This is a tough time to be an agency on a growth path. Ironically, not because the clients aren’t out there and ready to spend money. Agencies are reporting better biz dev opportunities than I’ve seen in awhile. But those same agencies are saying to me, “Drew, I can’t go after it. I just don’t have the people to service it if we win it.” That’s painful. But if you’re struggling to field a full roster, know you’re not alone. In the last 18 months, many agencies are experiencing turnover like they have never seen before. Some of our agencies are weathering a staggering 35%+ turnover rate. I don’t care if you are 5 people or 555 people — that hurts. Your people are being poached left and right. Or they’re coming to you with ridiculously high salary demands to stay. How are agencies combatting this trend (which I hate to tell you, shows no signs of easing up until the economic correction hits)? Invest your time in your best people: One thing I hear over and over again in the AE bootcamps or some of the speciality summits (AMI member benefit only) when I hang out with agency employees is how much they crave your time and attention. They want to learn from you. They want you to invest in them, and they want you to help them grow. Use salary surveys specific to our industry to level set expectations: Whether it’s ours, (broken up into both size and geography categories) Creative Group’s (remember they are a recruiting firm so theirs is going to be high to their own benefit). Second Wind’s (2018 looks like their most current) or 4A’s (have to be [...]
This holiday week, the idea of freedom is at the forefront of many people’s minds. It’s a topic that touches so many facets of our lives every day. In today’s episode, I want to turn my focus to agency owners, and what freedoms we should be taking full advantage of that will ultimately benefit your agency culture. […]
I would like to thank AMI for giving us the opportunity to share something that we at Workamajig are very passionate about; helping creative agencies optimize their workflow and increase accountability to improve performance. For over 30 years, Workamajig has been helping agencies streamline their operations and unclog their bottlenecks –first as a consultancy firm and eventually as a project management tool for creative agencies. We pioneered the SaaS model for the creative industry by combining sales, accounting, reporting, and collaboration functionalities in one piece of software for an affordable rate. Today, we work with over 3000 agencies, and 20% of Fortune 500 marketing departments rely on us to scale their excellence. Working with new clients, we usually encounter one common confession: many rely on spreadsheets for most of their marketing and company operations. While spreadsheets are great, they also have limitations. Let’s talk about what makes them awesome, and what makes them less than ideal for our purposes. Why We Love Spreadsheets It’s Free Google Sheets was released on March 9, 2006. Since then, anyone who had access to the internet could use spreadsheets for free. This allowed professionals from all industries to maximize its functions until it eventually became a staple in most workplaces. In 2017 and 2018, data shows that Microsoft Excel was the most used software by market researchers. Years later, spreadsheets stay in the same position, with 77% of respondents (from staff to upper management) spend over 10+ hours a week working with Microsoft Excel and other spreadsheet software, according to a 2022 MarTech Career and Salary survey. Spreadsheets are versatile, and they’re cost-efficient. This makes them the go-to option for many parts of a business. It’s Flexible Many [...]
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