AMI Videos

What’s missing from your job descriptions?

We're working on a set of job description templates for members. One of the things that we're realizing is that one of the elements that most job descriptions are missing, which I think is actually one of the most critical elements of a job description, is KPIs. Measurable, attainable, objective ways for you and your employees to measure their performance. It shouldn't be a huge, long list. It doesn't need to be 10 or 15 KPIs, but 5 to 6 KPIs that are very specific to their job that will be a way for you and them to keep score. One of the things we know about today's employees is that they're very anxious to sort of have a checklist of what doing a good job means. What it looks like and your job description is your first opportunity to give them that sort of template or checklist of how to show up as a great AE or a great copywriter or whatever their role is. But 95% of the job descriptions we see coming from all of you don't have specific KPIs. It may have vague language around listing their responsibilities, but it doesn't say how you will measure their performance. And for you and the employee, one of the realizations is that today's employees want specifics, and then they will work very hard to hit those specifics. Watch »

Continual Improvement

For most of us, one of our goals is to keep our employees for a long time. When we have a great team member, we want them to stick around. There are significant economic and emotional and sort of systemic reasons why we wish long-term employees. But what we also want from our long-term employees is that they keep getting better. We work in an industry where if we don't keep learning and we don't keep improving, we very quickly can become obsolete. So one of the things you need to do inside your agency is build in the reinforcement that no matter how good you are today, you need to keep getting better. And the best way to do that is in your one-on-one meetings with every single employee. We shouldn't be rewarding employees for longevity. We should be rewarding employees for the contributions they make to the agency. And part of the contribution we need every single team member to make is that they keep getting better. So you need to build in systems and process inside your organization to not only encourage improvement, but to reward improvement. So don't leave it to chance. Build a program into your agency so that every employee keeps getting better and better over time. Watch »

Surprise!

We are staying at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel, which is a vast hotel. One of the things that's been really interesting about our stay here is that they've done a fantastic job of sort of weaving in some surprises. It's all under a dome, and there are over 50,000 trees and plants inside the hotel, growing live inside this dome. But anyway, it's this amazing environment that you walk around, and it feels like you're outside. It smells like you're outside. And so there are many natural surprises baked into just wandering the hotel, trying to find your room. But beyond that, they do all kinds of interesting things: light shows and music shows throughout the day and the evening. They've got a riverboat. But what I find fascinating is they don't tell you that all these things are here. They let you discover them, they let them be a surprise. And I thought, as we were watching this light show last night, that was a surprise. We often talk about clients who don't like surprises, and they don't when it comes to deadlines or budgets or things like that. But I think everybody likes delightful surprises, surprises that demonstrate that someone's thinking about them and that they are going a little above and beyond. And I don't know that we are thoughtful about baking in that kind of surprise into our client interactions. And so my challenge to you is when was the last time you surprised a client by just doing something that would delight them, that showed that you were thinking of them, that you cared, or something a little something extra that they're not expecting for no other reason than to make them happy. And if your answer is, which I guess I'm going to think, most – for most of you- we don't do that very often. My suggestion is that you spend some time thinking about how you could delight your clients and surprise them in a way that makes them feel special, appreciated, and seen. Watch »

What role should your AE play?

The reality is that today, all of you have a choice. Your account people can be trained and groomed and held responsible for being the strategic Sherpas of your clients, guiding them in business decisions and marketing decisions, really being their thinking partner or they can be the relationship holders. And it's not that they can't do a little bit of both, but you have to decide where you'll lean in with your training, your recruitment, who you keep, and how you groom and grow your account service team. A strategic business partner is very different from someone who just takes the order, ensures the work gets done on time, and builds a relationship with the client. As you think about that, don't forget to do the math. What would that mean for you on the salary side, on the payroll side? So there's no right or wrong. And for many of you, there's a clear path one way or the other. And in some cases, that depends on the sophistication level of your clients; it might be dependent on the kind of work that you do for clients. It might be dependent on the people you already have on staff. How do you want to show up in front of clients and prospects, and how do you want them to see the account service people and where they get their strategy? Worth giving some thought. Watch »

Take Back Your Time

I am rereading a book by Dan Martel called “Buy Back Your Time." Many of you have probably read it; if you have read it once, I highly recommend you reread it. The whole premise of the book is that we spend a lot of our time doing things that are of low value because we haven't either decided that they don't need to be done at all or that someone else could do them as well if not better than we do, and that we are literally robbing ourselves of the time we need to do the things where we add the most value to our business, to our family, whatever it may be. And you know, the truth is, I think everybody feels like if I just had a few more hours in the day, if I had a little more wiggle room, we're not going to get that. So we really have to use that resource of our time better if we're going to get a different result. Watch »

Decide

What would it be if you could wave a magic wand and something would be different? Would it be possible for you to get more new business? Would it be a different relationship with your clients? Would it be a shift in the culture of your agency? Would it be something about profitability? Would it be something about you having clarity around your succession plan? Whatever it is, there's actually a straightforward solution. We overcomplicate things all the time. We create these big, elaborate Gantt charts and reasons why something is or isn't the way it is. This is the reality for most of us, and Danyel and I see this weekly as we coach agency owners and leaders. The reality is that when you are very clear about what you want and you're very clear about what you have to do to get it, the answer is actually straightforward. You have to decide. You have to determine that it's no longer acceptable for it to be how it is. Whatever it may be, you must decide it is no longer acceptable. And that the work you have to do to change it is no longer optional. The solution is simple. Executing the solution is hard. If somebody wants to lose 50 pounds, the solution is simple. Exercise more. Eat different. Be thoughtful about how much you sleep. All the things that we know. But doing it is hard. Solution – simple. Execution – hard. So I want you to think about the one barrier, burden, obstacle, goal, whatever it is that you want to be different in 2025. I want you to look yourself in the mirror and ask yourself, am I willing to decide to change this? Am I willing to do what it takes to have this no longer be a problem? And then actually decide. Watch »

I Spy

Reach out to everybody, and either while you're all on Zoom in a team meeting or prep them in advance, or do it by email or Slack. Say to them, I spy something meaningful in your office. Tell me about one thing. Show it to me. Tell me one thing in your office that has special meaning to you and why you keep it near you during the workday. I think you're going to learn some fascinating things about your employees. And start it off by sharing something that you keep in your office that is near and dear to you. That's very meaningful. Try and avoid the cliche of it's a picture of my family or something like that. Find something that is going to reveal something about you that maybe they didn't know, or they didn't know was as important to you as it is. But set the tone and then invite them to share as well. I think it's a great way to close out the year. Connect with everybody. Get to know everybody a little bit better, and share a little of yourselves with each other. Watch »

Year End Tax Strategy

As we approach year-end, many of you are scrambling to manage your taxes and ensure that while you want to end on a profitable note, you don't end with so much profit that it all goes right out the window to taxes. Many of you are prepaying rent and other things, which is a great idea, but if you consistently end the year with over $50,000 in profit, if that's sort of like that's a given for you, some years it might be $200,000, some years it might be $51,000. But you typically end the year with about $50,000 or better in profit, one thing that might be worth considering is a defined benefits program. It is basically a private pension program. It's a great way to not just prepay for things but really to tuck money away for you and your family and for your team rather than just pay excess taxes. Watch »

Words are like burrs

When I was a kid growing up in Minnesota, there were many places to hike and be in the woods. And one of the things that I still distinctly remember was what we called stickers or prickers or burrs. You would walk through the woods and they would stick to your clothes. Right? They were these thorny parts of a plant. I don't even know where they came from, but they would get all along your pant legs and your sweaters or your shirts. They were sharp and sticky, and they stuck around. Sometimes, you would find them for days. I can remember going out in the woods with the dogs, and you would find the burrs under their bellies days after you had been out of the woods. Our words are like those stickers long after we have delivered a message. So often, we think that we are being directive or prescriptive, especially if we're frustrated with a team member or a client. Or we're angry, and we say something, and we have been building it up. We've been planning it in our head. We've been practicing it. Or maybe just in a moment of anger, it comes out, and we feel better. We feel better because we've expelled that emotion. But we forget that long after we feel better, long after the conversation is done, and long after we think we've delivered the message and moved on, the recipient hasn't moved on. That sticker, that burr is still on their pant or under their belly, and they can't take it off. They can't shake it. They can't forget it. And that leaves a mark. And it leaves a mark that sometimes is permanent. And even if it's not permanent, it lingers much longer than we think. Watch »