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Keep Planting Seeds
For many agencies, for most agencies, Biz Dev has really been challenging in 23, and that's going to continue, I think, for the next several months. As we go into the summer, and it's so easy to sort of take our eye off the ball, I want to remind you of three things that you need to be doing right now to make sure that you have opportunities for Biz Dev in the fall and winter. Watch »
Crisis Averted
You know, as agency owners, we often fly by the seat of our pants. We don't rehearse. We walk into new business pitches cold. Oh, you're going to say this and I'm going to say that, but we don't actually practice. And I'm telling you, one of the things that I have learned over my 30-some years in the business is that that is not a way to success. Success comes from careful preparation, and anticipating all the things that could go wrong. Whether you're putting on an event for a client, you're in a new business pitch, or you're having a meeting with one of your most important clients or employees, all of those are pressure-cooked moments that have big potential outcomes for you and none of them should be taken for chance. And the more you prep and the more you prepare, the more you anticipate what could go wrong, and the more you surround yourself with people who are as invested in the success of that moment as you are, then no matter what happens, the event is successful. Watch »
Don’t cheat on your financial metrics
I recently got asked "if we're using freelancers or contract labor, should I count them or can I count them in the billability and utilization numbers because they're 100%? And so that would really improve my numbers." This is not about gaming the system. The metric is too important for you to start putting false data into the dataset so your numbers look better. One of the key reasons why you're not more profitable is because your utilization is too low. Too many of your hours are either non-billable or they're billable but they're not moving over to an invoice. Don't game the system by adding contractors who by default, of course, are going to be at 100 or close to 100%. It's sort of like saying you are on a quest to lose weight and you hop on the scale, and you're not crazy about the numbers. So then you talk yourself into saying, well, you know what? I had a steak for dinner last night and I had a big breakfast, so that's probably 10 pounds. That's going to work its way right through me. So I'm just going to subtract that from the scale. Accuracy is what is most important, so make sure that your billability and utilization numbers are clean, are accurate, and only include W-2 employees because otherwise, you can't know the truth and you can't start diagnosing why the numbers aren't what they should be. Watch »
Dealing with a toxic client
How do you deal with challenging clients? Now, I'm not talking about the normal level of challenging, I'm not talking about clients who have high standards or clients who miss deadlines. I'm talking about clients who make people quit. I'm talking about clients who are unappreciative. I'm talking about clients who are mean and who communicate in a way that is disheartening to your team. Sometimes, when an agency has this kind of client, this is an easy problem to solve when the client is small. But when the client is large when they are a good share of your AGI, this is a problem. If letting this client go because of their behavior would mean that you have to let go of staff as well, you have to reduce the team because they're that important to the business in terms of money. Now all of a sudden, there are complications. Watch »
How are you using your values?
One of the key things for you retaining your team and keeping them engaged in the agency and focused on the same goals that you're focused on, is actually having agency values that are clearly defined, that are regularly discussed, that are woven into performance appraisals, interviews, exit interviews, team meetings, and most important in your decision making metrics. So when you have core values that you really live by and that you talk about often, and your employees can recite them, can be guided by them, can remember what they are, and also bring them up when you're making decisions, that is a game changer in terms of employee retention. Our employees want to know why the agency exists, what we stand for, what we're about, what are our boundaries, and what are the criteria by which we make decisions? And an agency employee whose values align with our values is a really clear indicator of the stickiness of that employee. Watch »
Don’t hurt yourself!
When we're doing valuations, whether we're actually part of the transition or the succession plan or not, one of the things that I think many of you really underestimate is the power of how you compensate yourself and what that does to the valuation of your business. One of the larger factors in valuation is what we call owner compensation. And what we mean by that is every way that the owner gets value out of the business. Watch »
Should your project managers be billable?
The project management (formerly traffic manager) role is critical in most agencies today. But...how do you justify the expense? Easy. They should be 90% billable! Watch »
A very ugly return policy
So many agency owners give away equity in the agency they've poured their heart into building only to find the gift didn't result in the outcome they'd hoped. Watch »
Where is your 2023 revenue going to come from?
A healthy agency will get 60-70% of its net new revenue from existing clients. This ratio is even more critical in 2023. Watch »
The whole employee
Your employees want you to see them for more than just your employee. They want a genuine connection with you that goes beyond work. Watch »
