Butterflies are good
We have our big event, the Build A Better Agency Summit coming up. One of the things that makes me anxious about this event is that I have to do a keynote. Danyel and I teach workshops throughout the year, and I teach in videos like this and on the podcast, and I'm super comfortable with that. But a keynote: 45 minutes, no slides, it's supposed to be aspirational and inspirational. That makes me nervous. And somebody asked me today, does that make me feel like I'm not prepared? And I was like, no, actually, it's part of my prep process. I welcome the butterflies. So back when I was pitching, when I was playing baseball and pitching, before a big game, I got nervous, anxious, and had butterflies. Why? Because the game was important. Because my performance was important to me. I didn't want to let my team down. And I look at stepping on a stage exactly the same way. It's a team sport. Not just me on the stage. It's me and the audience. It's us working together to create an experience, and I want to do my part to ensure we win the game. Watch »
Timesheet specifics
Let's talk to you about timesheet codes, the function codes you use to track and define how time is being spent when you do your timesheets. Many agencies have these big black holes, particularly around your non-billable time. It's uper important that you track both billable time and non-billable time. Why? Timesheets aren’t really about billing. They're about understanding what your team is doing. How long it takes. It's about looking for efficiencies and effectiveness. Who needs more training?Are our estimates accurate? It answers a ton of questions that actually have nothing to do with billing. But it starts with A) doing your timesheets every day and B) having the right function codes so you know how people spend their time. Watch »
Internal growth goals
We believe that every agency employee should have a growth goal for every quarter. What we mean by that is that they should get better at something, they should learn something new, they should add to a skill set. They should invest in themselves to be better for themselves, the agency, and the clients. The first one is what am I going to learn that's going to benefit me? I'm going to get certified in Google AdWords. I'm going to take a presentation in class, or take an online webinar on how to use AI to take better notes, whatever it may be. Number two, what is my growth goal in terms of serving our clients better? So that might be that I'm going to sit in on a sales meeting for a client to learn more about their objectives and learn what the salespeople hear when they're on the road. Or I'm going to go to a part of a trade show day with a client and sit in their booth and listen. And then the third one is how am I going to get better? How am I going to grow to benefit the agency? So that might be I'm going to write an extra blog post for the agency. How am I going to help the agency grow? I'm going to contribute to our thought leadership. I will start spending time on LinkedIn, sharing and liking my colleagues’, my coworkers’, and my clients’ posts. Watch »
Breathe
One of the ways we can help our team, but we can also help ourselves is to think about what we need to do to ease some of that stress, ease some of that unrest, and give ourselves literally and figuratively, some breathing room. Drew McLellan, CEO of Agency Management Institute, offers a weekly agency management tip to agency owners. Watch »
Recoup your professional development investment
Here's a simple but effective way to make sure your agency really benefits from the professional development dollars you spend on your team. Watch »
Profitability by client
If you're not making at least 10% profit on a client, you have to ask yourself, why are these people why is this business still a clients? Now, there may be reasons why an unprofitable client — even a client that you're paying for the privilege of doing the work — is worth keeping. They may be a great referral source. But you have to make that decision consciously. You have to be intentional about that decision. And, by the way, and I know this is not going to surprise you, they can't all be less than 10% profit. So profitability by client by month, by quarter, and annually. Watch »
Unreimbursed Partner Expenses
Let's talk about unreimbursed partnership expenses. An unreimbursed partnership expense are expenses that you pay for out of your personal pocket that you don't get reimbursed for. Let's say you're a start-up, or let's say you've had a tough year and you couldn't run all those pass-throughs through the business like normal. You still can take a tax advantage. The way it works is, first of all, this has to be covered in your operating agreement between your partner, in your partnership, or in your S Corp if you are a sole owner. Watch »
You can’t carry the load forever
For many of you, you've been riding the profit line really tight since probably fourth quarter of 2022, and then all through 2023, things have been tight and a struggle for you and you have kept your good people and you have been waiting and kind of betting on the come, hoping that the work would come because clients and prospects were saying, “Yep, we're going to do it. Yep, we're going to do it.” But how long can you carry the load and not make money? Watch »
Get the most from your credit cards
I know that sounds crazy, but the reality is most agencies use their credit card pretty liberally. We have a lot of expenses we run through on our cards and we want to make the most of credit card benefits. We can create our own currency by choosing the right credit card. Watch »
Repeat what matters
This is a simple but very important reminder, worthy of repeating. When we are communicating with our team our clients, or our prospects we need to bake in opportunities for repetition. When we repeat what matters, we verbally underline and bold it... and that leads to retention and action. Watch »
