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Four Reasons to Consider WorkBook for Your Agency Operations

WorkBook puts all of your operational data right at your fingertips – letting you make faster, more reliable decisions about what’s next for your agency. How much more dynamic could your team be with the right information? We’ve outlined four reasons to consider streamlining your business operations with Deltek WorkBook:

 

  1. Bring in Better Business – Know what business to pursue and when with precise pipeline health data.
  2. Stop Over-Servicing & Scope-Creep – Increase efficiency, reduce costs, and scope accurately with enhanced project visibility.
  3. Be More Proactive and Less Reactive – Make better decisions about your agency’s future with trustworthy KPI tracking.
  4. Make Capacity Planning a Breeze – Allocate your people and your projects seamlessly together.

 

Contact us today for more information on how WorkBook can help your agency operations.

Improve Client Satisfaction with Deltek Agency Solutions

A healthy pipeline is built by nurturing profitable client relationships and boosting client satisfaction. By integrating your pipeline and project management process, Deltek WorkBook can help you identify profitable clients so that you can focus your new business efforts where they are needed most. And with real-time visibility into project progress, you can take preventative action to ensure efficient delivery and feed client profitability.

 

Both WorkBook and Deltek ConceptShare are purpose-built to support the crucial role clients play in the process so you can show them you value their time and money by giving them transparency into project progress and an easy way to participate.

 

Learn how Deltek Agency Solutions can help you:

  • Focus your new business efforts by identifying profitable and unprofitable clients
  • Give clients self-serve transparency into project status according to need
  • Monitor project progress and take preventative action to avoid over-servicing
  • Provide clients with an easy way to provide feedback and approvals

Access the on-demand webinar recording here.

There is No Time like the Present to Implement an Agency Management Tool

There is a great deal of fear around outgrowing your operational tools and identifying when it’s the right time to consider moving to a new system. Now is the time to eliminate the fear of change and provide detail on important factors to consider when choosing your next agency management tool.

 

1. Identifying the Right Time

Timing is key to most important decisions in life, choosing a new operational system is no different. It’s imperative to prepare for the future of your business in advance, especially in the marketing agency space. One of the worst things that could happen to an agency would be to win new business and then identify the need for a project and financial management system to ensure you are accurately measuring your finances, resources, projects and pipeline. Don’t wait until you win a new big project to then implement your system, have everything set in place so you are set up for success.

 

2. Finding Comfort in Change

It is normal for people to fear change, but for any growing business, change is so critical to the future growth of the company. Changing your operations is an infrastructure change. You want to build a business process that’s going to stand and grow with you. It’s important to map out your business plans and identify the pain points that will now be eliminated by your back-office operations. This will help you better understand the financial gain of your new total agency management solution.

Three ways to find comfort in change:

  • Make time – Set aside time. If you don’t take the time to look at your organization and identify areas of weakness to gain a better understanding and prepare for new projects, you will never feel ready for change.
  • Imagine growth – Think about where the business will be by the end of the year. Start mapping out new processes. This will only help your organization with change management when the time comes!
  • Don’t be behind the curve – Don’t wait until you have a new system in place to solve your problems. Identifying new structure before it is set will help you to better run your business.

 

Eliminating Stress

Find a system that works best for your business. Once you’ve identified your pain points and found peace with the idea of change. You’ll want to purchase a total agency management solution, such as Deltek WorkBook that will grow with your business. Find software that makes your internal team comfortable. Identify if your team will need to reassign internal tasks to ensure the system is properly run. Choose a software provider that will be a true partner to support your business journey.

 

PCI has worked with hundreds of small firms to assist in overcoming the fear that may come with implementing a new system. We will set your agency up for ultimate success. For more information, contact us today.

Project & Resource Management for In-House Agencies

In order to deliver the best creative product in the most cost-effective way, your In-House Agency always needs visibility into resource capacity and project progress.

By integrating resource and project management processes, Deltek WorkBook gives you the real-time transparency you need in order to optimize employee utilization and maintain workload balance while controlling costs. And by integrating with Deltek ConceptShare, you can accelerate the review and approval process to streamline the entire project lifecycle and reduce costs due to unnecessary rework.


Learn how WorkBook and Conceptshare can help you:

  • Get greater visibility into resource availability and future capacity
  • Quickly and easily reallocate tasks in order to optimize utilization
  • Monitor project progress and take preventative action to control costs
  • Reduce unnecessary revisions and get faster approvals

 

Access the On-Demand webinar here to learn more.

5 Ways WorkBook Can Generate Revenue and Streamline Your Agency’s Operations

Clients, Projects, People, Financials and Insights are all extremely important to your agency’s business success. Below are the 5 ways WorkBook can help you to streamline these critical areas.

 

  1. Retain & Grow Revenue
  • Boost win rates and client margins by identifying profitable business to nurture and pursue
  • Know IF you need to bring in business from a revenue perspective and WHEN your agency has the capacity from a resource perspective
  • Build stronger client relationships by showing them you value their time and their input with tools that make it easier for them to participate in the process

 

  1. Increase Project Profitability
  • Increase project profitability by reducing delays and costs through greater efficiency
  • Avoid over-servicing and scope creep by building more accurate estimates based on historical agency performance
  • Identify and get ahead of issues and bottlenecks before they can impact project margins

 

  1. Improve Utilization
  • Improve utilization and achieve better workload balance with greater visibility into resource availability and capacity
  • Forget chasing time-sheets and get real-time project data with easy to use integrated time entry and task management features
  • Make strategic hiring decisions with foresight into long-term resource capacity
  • Boost productivity and free up capacity by accelerating the review cycle and reducing unnecessary rework

 

  1. Improve Billability & Cash Flow
  • Reduce unbillable hours spent reconciling data from spreadsheets and disparate tools and streamline agency workflow by integrating agency operations into one, easy to use tool
  • Boost cash flow and minimize write-offs by capturing costs accurately and invoicing on time
  • Reconcile revision rounds with contract terms to ensure accurate invoicing
  • Streamline the month-end closing process to recoup valuable time

 

  1. Enable Decision Related Insight
  • Enable decision-related insight by using accurate real-time data to track the right KPIs
  • Identify issues in the production process and take preventative action with detailed project views that give you real-time visibility into project progress
  • Use historical performance data to inform and continually improve the process

 

WorkBook is a smart and intuitive, total agency management solution that streamlines your agency’s project and financial management processes to provide you with the insight you need to become more efficient, productive and profitable. It gives you clarity to focus on what’s important and the foresight to plan for the future.

 

If you are interested in learning more about how WorkBook can streamline your agency’s operations, contact us today!

7 Metrics That Matter to Your Agency

In Deltek’s recent webinar, Financial KPI’s for the Healthy Agency: Are You Really Measuring What Matters Most, David Baker, Author, Speaker, Entrepreneurial Advisor at ReCourses, Inc. talks through the 7 KPIs in which your agency should be measuring.

 

1. Billings per FTE

A simple, but extremely important metric. Take your total agency fees divided by your full-time employees. This is assuming your staff isn’t working ridiculous hours and that you have removed all external expenses from the total (media cost, freelancers, other COGS, etc.).  Baker’s minimal milestone for this is $200k per employee. In short, he states, ““You can’t really be a serious agency until you are above this.”

 

2. Other Key Financial Metrics

Baker’s research of the most efficient (and profitable) agencies concludes these financial metrics as key to a well-run agency:

  • Set aside 2-4 months of overhead in cash (not receivables or line of credit)
  • No debt (or at least avoid at all costs)
  • Look at your fee base (total invoiced amounts minus COGS) and don’t spend more than 45% of it on unburdened (no taxes, benefits, or bonuses) compensation
  • 60% of realized utilization (add up all the hours worked, not just billed) should be captured financially

 

3. Sales Prospecting

Have an inbound list of 8,000 individuals who signed-up for your insight. Baker explains, “I’m talking about real insight that they are excited to read about and eventually will say, “That is a smart agency.  I really need to talk with them.  Maybe the fit is right.” All of this insight is free until somebody hires you, and then it costs a lot of money. “

 

Accumulate 50 opportunities, choose 12 to go after, win 3-4 of them

Cap labor devoted to new business at 4% (this includes pitch decks, conferences, networking, etc.)

Use progressive profiling and lead scoring

 

4. Insight Assets (Content)

Your sales prospecting is dependent upon the insight deliverables (content) you create and make available to new business leads. Here are some minimal guidelines for what you’ll need in your asset stack:

  • At least 2 articles per month (400-800 words with the occasional longer piece)
  • Have a clear point of view and use video when you can
  • Produce at least one of these “higher rung” insights very well every year:
  • eBook with speaking opportunities
  • hosting your own marquee event
  • invitation-only roundtables 3-4 times a year with 20 guests (prospects and clients)
  • research report co-issued with a more popular brand (or speaker)
  • podcasts (your own series or multiple guest appearances on others)

 

5. Pitches

New business pitches take a lot of time and effort. Baker advises to pitch only if you know who the other competing firms involved. There should be no more than six and no incumbent. If prospect isn’t willing to spend time with you (no answered questions, no inside information) it probably isn’t worth it.

 

6. Client Landscape

How many clients should you have, and what should they represent of your fee base?

  • Have 15-22 active clients at any given time (doesn’t matter your agency size)
  • Fewer than 15 will result in a client concentration problem
  • Each client represents 4-15% of the whole (any more will put you at risk when they leave, any less means you’re not deeply engrained enough and probably losing money)
  • Relationships should last only 2-3 years (the longer they are with you the harder it is to make money)
  • Projects should yield a net of 0-40% (okay to lose money on some projects as long as the client relationship as a whole is doing well)
  • You only need to close a new client every 2 to 4 months because you’re keeping them 2 to 3 years, and you have 15 to 22 of them.

 

7. The priorities of an agency lead

As the captain of your agency ship it is the job of the agency lead to understand the daily inefficiencies that hamper good workflow and proper money management. A few key concentrations Baker highlights for agency leaders:

  • Focus on financial performance and the entire process in pursuit of good performance
  • Devote yourself to KEY staff (4-8 people handpicked by you)
  • “Stake out an unambiguous positioning that’s not interchangeable in the marketplace” (i.e. this is what we are really good at and where we are focused)
  • Participate in new business to signal to prospect that “this is a big opportunity”
  • Make sure every third hire is an “expert” at something. One-third of all employees should contribute to your thought leadership insights.

 

Learn how WorkBook can increase your agency’s KPIs and streamline your operations. Contact us for more information!

Raise your hand if you’d like to increase your agencies efficiency and profitability!

Profitability is one of the most important aspects of any business, especially within agencies. In this blog, we will review 10 best practices to ensure your processes are on the right track to maximize agency efficiency:

1. Create Accurate Estimates
With greater visibility into your agency’s project data, you can glean better insights and more accurately predict the time and resources a new project might require. Track your project history and use it effectively to inform new project estimates.

2. Manage Staff Capacity
Your employees are your greatest asset, as well  as your largest cost. They define your agency’s ability to execute on client needs. But without complete visibility into staff capacity, you don’t know how many projects you can take on or how much you’re wasting on under-utilized resources or unexpected freelance costs. With a clearer line of sight into agency capacity comes better insight into agency capabilities, allowing you to ensure agency money is being spent effectively.

3. Track Time Effectively
Timesheets are the biggest hurdle to getting you the most accurate budget information in real-time. Who wants to get hit with a giant overrun after it’s too late to do anything about it? Easy-to-use, mobile-friendly time tracking methods are a must for any project-based agency. The simpler it is for your employees to track and submit time the more likely they are to use it effectively, giving you the information you need, when you need it.    

4. Avoid Idle Hands
Consistently under-utilized resources can be just as damaging to your project profitability as over-servicing. Along with capacity management, the ability to analyze historical project data to understand your staff’s strengths and weaknesses is invaluable. With greater insight into staff performance and project profitability your agency can chase the right kinds of projects that maximize productivity.

5. Stimulate Team Collaboration
In an industry where teams may be scattered across the globe and an on-the-go attitude requires business processes to be mobile, it’s more important than ever that your agency be up to the challenge. By providing your employees with a centralized portal of communication they’ll be able to work with anyone, from anywhere, without deterring from productivity. Easier team communication leads to higher utilization rates and greater project margins.

6. Maintain a Healthy Pipeline
A healthy pipeline is the lifeblood of a project-based agency. It feeds your bottom line and nourishes growth. It’s crucial that your agency knows exactly what kind of work it excels at and what is most profitable. By tracking and analyzing historical project data you can be sure your agency is chasing the right types of leads and landing more projects that contribute to your bottom line.

7. Control Scope-Creep
Extra items are sure to be added to the scope after fees have been established. But spending time on something that you’re not being paid for eats profit margin and negatively affects morale. With an early-warning system and an informed Account Services team, you can see scope-creep coming and take action. When you have accurate, real-time data and can provide the client with greater transparency into the project you’ll be better suited to re-negotiate.   

8. Increase Project Management Agility
Projects are the core of your agency, so it’s crucial that your project management capabilities are as agile and effective as possible. To deliver a successful product on time and budget you need visibility into all aspects of the project with accurate data that allows you to course-correct before issues arise. You’ll have more control over project profitability when you can monitor project budgets in real-time and can quickly adjust resources and timelines as priorities change.

9. Use the Right System
The right tool will effectively streamline agency processes so that employees spend less time on unbillable and administrative tasks and more time focusing on what’s important.

10. Put it All Together to Make More Money
If you have the right processes, the right resources and the right system in place you’re well on your way to increased efficiency and profitability. When operations are streamlined, employees spend more time delivering the best product, keeping the client happy and contributing to the bottom line.

If you are interested and want to hear more about Deltek WorkBook can increase your bottom line, Contact us today!

Why Top Agencies Are Making Operational Changes

A New Way of Doing Business

Many agencies we work with are adjusting their business operation strategies to meet their client demands and survive.  I recently took part in a Mumbrella webinar featuring, Ogilvy Hong Kong and The Hallway, to see how agencies are responding to the pressures of digital transformation and increasing channels and evaluating what tools they need to support their new operations approach.

See how agencies are responding to 2018’s brutal multi-channel pressures.

Watch the on-demand Webinar

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The landscape is changing but creativity remains our currency

Brian Riedlinger, Chief Delivery Officer, Ogilvy Hong Kong, opened up the discussion by addressing the change the advertising industry is going through.  He explained that we’ve seen a lot of disruption to the way agencies traditionally did business due to the number of channels multiplying year on year and the nature of the audience changing. Advertising agencies have spent years perfecting how to please baby boomers through TV advertisements but now the most important audience are millennials. The way agencies communicate to this inherently connected audience is very different. Brands must be accountable across a wide range of channels and media formats.

Jules Hall, founder of The Hallway, echoed Brian’s viewpoint. He said that the work has changed, it is getting more and more complex thanks to the proliferation of media and the rise in the amount of data and emerging technologies. He was clear however that this change brings opportunity and that the skill of developing ideas, otherwise known as Creativity, is more important now than ever.

Niche is no longer

In the past, every time a new marketing method or media emerged the solution was to form a new agency division, but Ogilvy and The Hallway clients have been clear that they no longer want to work with five different contacts across different agency entities for each campaign.

Clients want integrated campaign execution and one point of contact.

Jules explained this is because client teams are continually being asked to do more, but without more budget. They no longer want to deal with several specialist agencies, the want to call on one team who can do it all. He went on to say that the specialist model was highly inefficient. It required multiple project managers client-side, often paying several people agency-side to do the same job. He said it wasn’t effective either, stating that when you have multiple strategists and creatives, the result is a fragmented brand voice.

How agencies are responding

Ogilvy’s ‘new chapter’ initiative represents the agency’s response to this changing marketplace. The wide-ranging overhaul means creative, social and content teams have merged, while Ogilvy has streamlined its operations to provide just six core services, all combined back into one entity. For some areas this was easy, for others not so much! It was necessary for each group to understand the value of others, but they’ve now been through this journey and clients are enjoying one point of contact.

Collaboration across offices is key as the demand for regional and global campaigns increases.

We heard from both Brian and Jules that sharing resources and collaboration can be difficult because each location traditionally had a different way of doing things. Deltek Workbook is helping Ogilvy standardise business processes and tools across the business. Workbook also provides The Hallway and Ogilvy a place to share information between and within teams, holding key documents like SOWs and creative briefs in once place. It also enables effective communication via one platform.

The final point covered was the need for reporting and analysis. Brian explained that the Workbook solution helps them stay on track throughout the whole delivery process; from ensuring clear concise SOWs, to resource management, which ultimately protects margins. The data captured in the tool enables the team to measure their success and constantly evaluate their progress so that problems are solved in real time, before a project has the chance to get off track.

Key Takeaways

For me, these were the key takeaways from the session:

  • Clients want one agency and one point of contact. Integrated campaign execution wins over niche specialism
  • To achieve this, tools that enable collaboration and automate processes to reduce administration time and complexity are key
  • Good change management practices should not be overlooked when it comes to rolling out these tools – people need to understand why a change to the way of working makes sense for them, as well as the agency as a whole, before you can really move forward with training and successful implementation.