#agencyleadership Archives - Page 3 of 3 - Agency Management Institute

Virtual Events Good Business For You and Your Clients

As an agency owner that serves the travel, tourism and hospitality industry exclusively, I have been tracking the data on when face-to-face group meetings and conventions will return. My clients depend on it! The good news is face-to-face events will return. The better news is innovation is happening at a rapid pace in the meetings industry and you will see many virtual features that have become popular during the shutdowns stick around as new hybrid formats are created. If you or your clients have been resisting the investment in virtual events, now is the time to get serious about adding them into your marketing mix. Here are some data points that we have been tracking that tell us this makes good business sense. First, the sentiment of the American Traveler is telling us it will be a slow rebuild for face-to-face events to be at the level they were pre-pandemic. A few highlights from Destinations Analysts Coronavirus Traveler Sentiment Index Report from December 15, 2020: 74% of American Travelers say they will not attend an in-person group meeting or convention until the Coronavirus situation is resolved. Only 24% of American Travelers say they have plans for in-person group meetings and conventions in 2021 53% of American Travelers say they will not feel comfortable going to an in-person group meeting or convention until sometime after September 2021 If you or your clients are counting on adding events back into the mix in 2021, be prepared for fewer event options and lower attendance. Many projections are targeting 2024 and 2025 for a full return, if live events and meetings are an important part of your marketing mix waiting four years is likely not the best option. Benefits [...]

The Hands, Head and Heart Model

Our goal as leaders is to help steer our team, motivate them when times get tough, and achieve the objectives and goals we’ve identified for the term. To do this well we consult with our clients on how to create Clarity, Alignment, and Purpose. Clarity of the vision. Alignment to make sure we’re all on the same page. And Purpose to understand how what we do matters. Purpose tends to be the missing link for a great many organizations and leaders. (Especially during a particularly challenging period of time. Our purpose gets lost in the stress.) Yet, when employees understand the purpose behind their work -- as in, why what they do matters -- you can unlock another level of effort, effectiveness, and efficiency that wasn’t there before. The difference between hands, head and heart. When you have someone’s hands, they’re willing to do the work and will achieve some level of productivity. Companies that have built great processes into their work can achieve their goals with just their employee’s hands. The challenge is, they may not be putting their “all” into the work they do and they’re definitely not thinking about how to make the process better. When you have someone’s head, they’re not only doing the work well, but they’re thinking about how they could do it better. An employee who is engaged at the “head” level will put more mental energy into the work they do and find different, better and more efficient ways of working. You’ll achieve productivity and profitability with a group of employees that use their heads, but there’s another level you can strive to achieve. At the ‘heart’ level, you’ve engaged an employee in such a way that [...]