the bank of [your agency name here]

I just read the brief piece in AdvertisingAge: Three Agency Trends for 2013, and the first trend is… Slow payments from clients is the new reality! Ironically one of the other two is about consolidation. No wonder. What small- to moderate- size agency can afford to be the bank for a client?

They say it’s, “not great for agencies, however it’s the new reality in 2013”. No kidding, but I’ll bet it started well before the New Year.

So my question goes out to you folks in the agency world. Don’t you think you should work a little smarter this year? Maybe control costs – like the volume of resources you put into the client’s work?

Follow the money. It has never been more true – or essential.

I don’t mean reducing the wonderfulness of what you create, but keeping a watchful eye on where money is being spent. Time = Money.

Such as a creative deciding to spend (a lot) more time than estimated tweaking and re-tweaking a layout. Or that lovely back-and-forth between a proofreader and a copywriter on whether a serial comma is appropriate. Wastes time and money.

And while I’m at it, you can save a whole heck of a lot of cash if your account team exercises a little restraint when saying YES every time a client wants to be an art director. Those changes rack-up huge costs – which I’m betting you don’t usually track (they’re just small, quick changes), and certainly don’t bill.

I've said it before, everyone in your agency is responsible for ensuring a profit. That profit gets pretty thin when you’re carrying your client for 120 days. And when that profit is devoured by poor management of the client and staff – you’ll break even, or worse, have a really crappy year.

How long can you do this?

New Year’s resolution: call your entire staff together and decide exactly how you will manage your work – and your clients – for 2013. Agree to it and stick to it. And track everything – this means estimates, changes and timesheets. I stress tracking because next year, when do your year-end evaluation, and  you’re ready to re-negotiate client contracts, their value to your agency will be very clear.

And who knows, if you're awesome and efficient, one of the big holding companies may come calling.

open concept offices

Once again there’s an article touting how cool open offices are. The examples in the article are in fact, very cool.

Do you work in an ‘open’ office? The kind that encourages collaboration, “where hierarchy has been ripped out, that makes everyone feel part of something special.”

Are you able to get work done? I know I’m not. And by the way, you’re not so special that I want to hear you take every call over the speaker on your phone.

In the article, What Makes a Cool Office? The answer to cool is “It's more than just a billiards table and free soda. Design buffs weigh in on how to build a creative, collaborative, and innovative workspace.”

I do believe that an awesome workspace can inspire. I have worked in awesome and I have worked in miserable. And I have worked in the combination of the two. I love amazing architecture, new clean and modern, or historical buildings – each can possess an energy that is conducive to great creative collaboration.

So my issue is with distraction. No walls, no cubes, and lately, not even assigned desks. Everyone is portable all the time, sitting at the same table. If you want or need quiet you must either use headphones or take a walk over to the corner Starbuck’s / Peet’s / Coffee Bean. If you need to pull together a meeting, conference rooms – if they exist – are always booked.

Doesn't that tell you something? Your colleagues are either working in small groups off-site or have snagged one of the precious conference rooms.

And if you need to make a personal call, you have to walk out of the office.

So how much work do you actually get done in that cool office?

I worked in an agency in a historical building and everyone had offices. It never hindered collaboration. In fact, people were in each other’s’ offices all the time. They could shut the door and get work done, or leave it open – and we could always hear what was going on with open doors. Imagine that.

Then, I worked in an open office – which was quite large – and to mask conversations, ‘white noise’ was added. Nice. I had a white noise speaker right over my desk. It was deafening, and at 5:30pm when it shut off, everyone relaxed. Go figure. And as the one who had to follow-up on all active projects, the pure joy of having everyone within earshot – or in view – was a huge waste. My colleagues were usually out for coffee.

If you want successful open concept offices, here’s a challenge for your architects and space planners: make it cool, but please provide space where staff can really work.

Collaboration is not always a happy accident.  It can be a major distraction – for others. You can be a part of something special by being able to get your work done – at the office. 

managing projects is like being a custodian...sometimes

Remember Carl the custodian in The Breakfast Club? He was the sage who knew everything about everyone.  There were no secrets. Always there to clean up the debris of the day. He went through everyone’s lockers.

A project manager, traffic manager, producer is important. We keep everyone’s work moving along. We have to know where everything is – all the time. Beside being a custodian, it’s also like being Mom. “WHERE ARE MY (insert item you can’t find but Mom miraculously knows exactly where it is)?” If you were organized this wouldn't be an issue.

Well, we’re all adults, right? Most of the time as project managers, we have all the answers. We know where we stand on the progress, budget, alignment with the brief – always on top of everything. Because we're constantly bugging you for updates.

But when you’re not around to provide an update, produce the item that was due an hour ago, or a change has just screamed into agency and must-be-done-now – we have to rifle through your desk, files, whatever.

Personally, I feel that your desk, your file system on the hard drive of your computer is your personal space. However, it becomes mine when I have to know what the status of a project is – NOW.  I hate going through someone else’s stuff. It’s a violation of space and makes me feel weird. But I’ll do it.

So, like a custodian, or a Mom, we find what we need and get to see what a disaster your personal space is. Compelled to clean it up for you, we do not. It is your job. We get what we need and leave a sticky-note on your monitor as to what had transpired.

Therefore, if your agency or marketing department has a centralized system for managing projects, updating information, communicating updates – USE IT. If you don’t have a central system – or if you feel that email is the end-all to organization, I recommend you do a Google search and find tools that bring everyone into the loop. Need help? Let me know.

Email is not a project management tool. It is not a database and requires a lot of sorting, searching and filing. Your IT department will love you for cutting back on the clutter and resources needed for bloated inboxes and terabytes of storage.

A little guidance from your Mom…Centralize your information. Provide updates as you move along. And clean up your files because one day, someone will need something and have to search through your debris.

It will all come down to you – whether you’re at your desk or at Starbuck’s. And by the way, let your colleagues know when you’ve stepped out for a sec. If we know you’ll be right back I won’t have to look in your locker.

organization - adjustments during implementation

So in my last post I stated it takes 40 days to create a habit. With respect to organizing your agency, you’re dealing with a lot of people in diverse roles. When you introduce process with structure and new tools (e.g. software) into the mix there’s a lot to evaluate and learn prior to rolling out the systems, not to mention gaining compliance.

Do your homework, get help (a staffer from each discipline is good) and get complete commitment from management.

Once you have trained – yes you must train and it can be painless – then roll-out and the 40 days begin. Be available to help. Few remember the details during training sessions, so prepare a simple step-by-step guide (specific to role) for people to reference later. When I say simple, I mean simple. Step 1 click here, Step 2 enter data here (pictures, lines and arrows do work).

Follow up continuously during roll-out. Be available to hold hands, stem the tears, deflect anger…and make adjustments.

The best laid plans get derailed if you’re inflexible during roll-out. However, this requires an objective review of issues before flexing. Keep in mind that when you’re implementing change in an agency or marketing department, you’re managing three distinct areas: process, tools (software / hardware), and people. The last is often the most difficult.

So, by day 20, invite an in-depth review of the issues, develop a plan to mitigate them, and review revisions with the entire team affected to assure a change is necessary. This will pave the path to a solid system for everyone by including the team in the process.  

Try not to make changes too early. Some people adapt easily and quickly and others do not. Determining whether it’s the learning curve, a procedure or a format (I had forms that just didn’t work for some – made an adjustment and everyone was happy) helps determine how soon you need to make those adjustments.

Something to watch out for: workarounds. Never accept them. Workarounds are the evil un-doing of a good process that consist of: still using old systems or forms – because everyone is used to them; deciding the new system ‘takes too long, is too hard’ and not entering essential data such as estimates, schedules or client updates; or just walking-over-and-begging-a-colleague-to-make-this-one-little-change-because-I-need-it-done-for-the-client, skipping every process in between.

I will never tell you that the process of organizing your agency is easy. You’re working with people who are busy, stressed, and may just put up a little attitude. But with good planning, engagement, training, review and adjustments, you can successfully organize your agency or marketing department.

In 40 days you should see improvement. If not, email me. I want to hear what's going on because that time was a real investment and I want you to succeed.

organization = love / hate

Everyone has some sort of New Year’s resolution… until they have to maintain it.

Like exercise: I will get up at 5am and go to the gym five days a week. It takes 40 days to create a habit. And commitment is easier because I have a partner to motivate me.

How does this relate to your agency or department? A commitment to getting organized, creating a process that everyone follows is like a resolution – with benefits. You just have to do it, stick with it, and get over the grief you will surely get in the process.

I have been hired by firms and worked with clients that were in the midst of chaos. I proposed a logical process solution, built it, trained and rolled it out – they loved me.

Let’s face it, a CEO, VP, partner, owner or manager hates it when simple things go wrong. Things that should have been routine. I completely agree, and when I see something going sideways, my first reaction is to fix it. I am a hero and they love me.

So, fixing it requires a process that is workable for the organization; tools that are solid and collaborative; people who are willing to put forth the effort to become the solution; and management who will NOT BACK DOWN.

That last point is for you – the C-level guy or gal, owner, partner – because someone (or more than someone) will complain.

You now have a choice:
- Give in because complaints (whining in my book) are too much trouble, and your team is so brilliant
- Tell them to buck-up, and a little structure won’t hurt anyone

I have been on the other side – when the complaints come in, they hate me. Then management wonders why they hired me.

So the bottom line is this:
What do you hate more – expensive errors, missed deadlines, creative that has gone off the rails and requires complete rework over a (holiday) weekend – OR – a bunch of whining (but brilliant) staffers who don’t like to follow some basic structure.

For my paycheck, profit sharing or bonus, I’ll take the second choice and tell them all to just do their jobs. Culturally (and I’ve heard this just about everywhere I have worked) structure just doesn’t fit them. They have to be free to create, collaborate, and move as fast as possible, and logging into a central system to note something, or notify someone (not in email!), what’s going on is…too hard. (All this, and timesheets too?)

I can guarantee that when you have a little structure, and a centralized place for everything related to a job, things will actually run smoother. You can find stuff, you know what’s coming up, there’s a budget, and a schedule! No one will admit it, but they will love me.

It can be done in forty working days. I am the partner to motivate you. 

do your timesheets

Time = Money. Who wants to read this? No one, I’m sure. That’s because no one likes to do timesheets.

Let me tell you why you should care. Because you want to make money. Money keeps the agency open – and sharing it makes everyone happy to be there.

One of the ways to make money is to know who is spending it and what they’re spending it on. That comes down to ‘billable hours’ and tracking those hours. Accurately.

Professionals track time. Lawyers do, doctors do (yep, short or long office visits bill differently), and your plumber starts tracking time when he leaves his last job to come to your house and fix your leaky faucet. You are a professional and you should be paid for what you put into a project.

Require all your creative, account and production staff to do timesheets. Every day. No exceptions. I would have partners track time as well - because their time is valuable.

To make that process easy for accounting, and reduce whining from staff, get a centralized system for entering time. There are a lot of terrific systems out there, easy to access, and they pull everything together. Let me know if you need help.

A few suggestions:

-          Every job should have a job number (understanding how different projects accrue time is enlightening)
-          Every time an employee touches a job, they should post time to the job
-          All time must be accurate – not what is estimated, not eight hours because that’s all you ‘work’ in a day – what you actually put in on that job
-          Time entered – at the very least – before staff leaves for the day (it’s even better if they track it as they go
-          Commitment from management to not fold to whining

So you've been profitable? Profits hide a multitude of sins. It’s all great until one day – you’re not profitable and you don’t know why.

Tracking time will give you the foundation to see how many hours are spent on different types of projects, which clients require more hours, and individuals who spend an inordinate amount of time without good reason. (This reveals issues ranging from lack of training to poorly-managed clients.)

Your clients are fee? Is that fee covering the actual hours you’re putting in on that client? Are you over-servicing? Are your clients asking for more value? Or perhaps a reduction in fee? Showing them how much you have put into their projects provides solid evidence when you’re in a review.

Starting the New Year, make the big decision to get ahead. Track time, and then compare it to your estimates.

Oh, you don’t do estimates? You should. We’ll talk about that later.

the world did not end

Since we’re all still here, and perhaps you’re stuck in the office because the powers-that-be decided the office should stay open (but they’re out until after the New Year), spend the next few days and clear some clutter.

Make a list of those pesky things that you really need to get done – and do them while no one is there to bug you – or place judgment as to why you’re rearranging things.

Get rid of old files. Organize your desktop folders. Clean out all that ‘scrap’ for those long gone projects that are filling up hard drives and servers.

Decide on how you want to manage your work, your clients and your colleagues this coming year. Look for ways to make it easier for everyone around you. And actually make an effort to do so.